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Steve Kerr: NBA ‘reasonable’ in rescinding DeMarcus Cousins technical

Jason Rowan
| February 27, 2019

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on Wednesday praised the NBA for deciding to rescind a controversial technical foul assessed on DeMarcus Cousins earlier in the week, saying it was a “reasonable” way to resolve the issue.

The incident in question occurred with less than five minutes remaining in Monday’s 121-110 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Cousins was T’d up after picking up Jeremy Lamb’s sneaker off the court and tossing it into the crowd after the Hornets guard lost it during play.

Cousins was left baffled by the technical, and after the game insisted he only threw the shoe in the interest of player safety, including his own.

Wednesday, Kerr argued that Cousins was trying to do the right thing, but nevertheless pointed out the risk inherent to tossing an object into the crowd.

“You have to be a little careful when you’re throwing something into the crowd,” Kerr said, as transcribed by Clutch Points. “There’s a lot of fans who are sometimes looking at their phones, maybe talking to somebody, maybe they’re not watching — so if they get hit with a shoe, that’s pretty dangerous. These guys have big feet.”

“I guess the ideal thing to do is pick it up and throw it to the sideline, not throw a line-drive into the stands,” Kerr continued. “Easier said than done, but I thought they were reasonable taking the technical back.”

Cousins of course has been saddled with the reputation of conducting himself in such a manner on the court that technical fouls are often merited. That said, the case can be made that had officials examined the situation more closely, perhaps they would not have ultimately T’d up Cousins.

The NBA’s move to rescind the technical at the very least rights the wrong that was committed.