All it really means is a whole lot of question marks. On paper it's one of the sixth most star-studded team assembled in all NBA history. On the court, even without the Achilles rehabbing, it's a stylistic clashing of epic proportions. But even with the Achilles rehabbing, you cannot ignore that Cousins is coming off one of the deadliest injuries alive for big men in the NBA.
And there's something to be said about the fact that virtually zero teams were clamoring to sign Cousins on July 1st...which probably lends itself to Cousins' "my ace of spades" comment.
29 other NBA teams didn't have the cap space to sign Cousins to a max deal-- hell, even a handful of them didn't have enough cap space to sign him to the mid-level exception like Golden State did. But for the team that could have engineered the personnel and financial wherewithal to do so (i.e. Pelicans, Celtics, Mavs, etc), they passed.
Earlier on Sportscenter, Woj broke down the dynamics of the strange market for Cousins which basically became a Venn diagram of injury fear, salary cap, and----his image. Certain teams just didn't want him in their locker room.
And apparently it hurt Cousins. The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears reported that Cousins relayed he was 'confused and hurt' that he had no offers, even from the Pelicans.
Regardless of the sequence of events that led to this equation, DeMarcus Cousins is a Warrior, at least for the 2018-19 season. It's very likely that this can only be a one-year deal for both sides as Cousins will likely be looking for a larger payday after the dried up market that is summer '18, and the Warriors will be in luxury tax hell, approaching the hard cap.
There's also been back and forth about when Cousins will actually come back. He's gone on record to say that he plans to be ready for the start of the 2018-19 season which is an extremely aggressive timetable that no doctor or team has supported other than Cousins himself.
On the flip-side, the more realistic timetable is for him to be back roughly 3-4 months into the season. The benefit of this circumstance than say...Isaiah Thomas returning from his hip injury last year was the Cavs didn't have the luxury of time. They desperately needed another play-maker and shot creator and were sending cries for help out to Thomas for his imminent return.
The injury limbo dynamic with Golden State and Cousins will be a lot different. Golden State will hum along their winning ways and tell Cousins to take all the time he needs. Last season alone the very Warriors team that just won a championship didn't even decide to really show up until April 14th.
Once Cousins does come back, there will be two factors in play; how does he look in reference to his all-star caliber season last year? Is he a shell of himself or will he look virtually identical thanks to advancements in modern medicine and training regimens. Or will we not even know the extent of Cousins' Achilles aftermath until next next season? Remains to be seen, but the fact of the matter is, Cousins is a Warrior.