Draymond Green did not hesitate to sign off on the Warriors adding DeMarcus Cousins to their already-star-studded roster five years ago.
The Warriors forward was joined by his former teammate on the latest episode of "The Draymond Green Show," where Green recalled a frantic phone call he received from then-Warriors general manager Bob Myers about the possibility of adding the four-time NBA All-Star to a roster that already included Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and himself.
"Bob called me and Bob was like 'Yo ...' he's like in a panic, almost like hyperventilating like 'yo it's crazy what's going on back here. I know you're on vacation but I think we can get DeMarcus Cousins, what do you think?' " Green recalled. "And I'm like, 'Bob, what? What are you talking about?' He's like 'I think we can get DeMarcus Cousins.' He's like, 'How do you feel about that? When I talked to him it seems like he's in, but he needs to talk to you and Steph [Curry] and he really needs to talk to you because I guess y'all got into it or something.'
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
"And I said, 'Number one, Bob, that's no issue at all. And number two, Bob, if you can get DeMarcus Cousins, you f--king get DeMarcus Cousins ... if you can get DeMarcus Cousins, you get DeMarcus Cousins.' And I remember that whole thing playing out and you ending up on the team during your rehab."
Coming off a torn left Achilles sustained midway through the 2017-2018 season, Cousins signed a modest one-year, $5.3 million midlevel exception with Golden State in July 2018.
The then-28-year-old missed the first 45 games of the Warriors' 2018-2019 season before making his Golden State debut in mid-January. In 30 games with the Warriors, Cousins averaged 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, averaging 25.7 minutes on the court.
His acclimation to the system, after recovering from a serious leg injury, was difficult at first. Still, Cousins and the Warriors eventually developed a cohesion that propelled them to the NBA Finals, where they eventually lost in six games to the Toronto Raptors.
Golden State Warriors
"It was a lot of difficult times where I sometimes felt out of place, the rhythm was off, trying to figure out my own personal game within the offense," Cousins told Green. "It was a lot of things against me and then on top of that, you know just having confidence in my movements. Doing things that I was used to doing, but my mind is telling me, 'You can still do it,' but my body is not on the same page.
"It was very difficult, but credit to you guys, I had a really good group around me. You guys really embraced me, you guys worked with me, you allowed me to find my way within it and eventually, it was rolling. It was really rolling. We kind of finally found our rhythm, everybody figured out their place within the team and everybody was finding success at the same time."
Cousins spent one year with the Warriors before signing with the Los Angeles Lakers the following offseason. The veteran big man then tore his ACL in a pickup game before the 2019-2020 season and never played a game for the Lakers.
After brief stints with the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks over the following two seasons, the Warriors eventually faced off against Cousins and the Denver Nuggets in the 2022 playoffs on their way to winning the franchise's fourth championship in eight seasons.