TORONTO _ As the Warriors took the practice court Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena Kevin Durant was nowhere to be seen and was just as invisible as the other Warriors players spread around the court for interviews.
So even though he traveled with the team here there was no chance to ask him things like what number would he like to wear for the Knicks next season. And there was no more clarity on his status for the NBA Finals beyond Game 1 _ in which he won't play.
"I think we already announced he's not playing in Game 1," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "His next step is individual court work, so that will be the next priority over the next couple of days. Hopefully he can wrap that up, and then he's going to have to practice. We have to see him in practice before he can play a game, and he hasn't practiced yet."
While Durant remains out of action, DeMarcus Cousins remains in limbo. Kerr said that it has not been decided yet if Cousins will be active for Game 1 after suffering a quadriceps injury in Game 2 of the opening round of the playoffs six weeks earlier.
"DeMarcus has done an amazing job coming back from the injury, which we felt at the time was season-ending," Kerr said. "He's done an incredible job of rebounding, rehabbing ... I mentioned the other day, if this were the regular season, I would throw him out there and he would play whatever minutes he could tolerate and we would build him up from there. This is not the regular season. This is the Finals. So we have to figure out what's the best way to utilize him, how many minutes can he play, what the game feels like, what the matchups are like."
"It's never really up to me," Cousins said. "We'll put our heads together and come up with the best plan moving forward ... We're stubborn, we're bullheaded, we feel like we can fight through anything, and that's not always the best case for the individual. So obviously we'll come together and figure out the best plan for me."
