Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was glad the NBA league office decided to rescind a technical foul from center DeMarcus Cousins.
The big man was hit with a “T” in the fourth quarter of Monday's 121-110 win over the Charlotte Hornets. He picked up Jeremy Lamb's loose shoe and flung it from the painted area (or non-painted in the Spectrum Center) into the stands, causing a young official to assess the tech. The league rescinded the foul less than 24 hours after, exonerating Cousins and preventing him from having to pay a fine.
Kerr approved of the league's decision to take back the technical foul, but he argued both sides of the coin, noting the tossing of the shoe could have been dangerous.
“You have to be a little careful when you're throwing something into the crowd,” said Kerr. “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 (draws laughs).”
Steve Kerr on DeMarcus Cousins’ getting his technical rescinded and the NBA’s clarification on the shoe tossing incident pic.twitter.com/lxjtwEytgK
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) February 27, 2019
Kerr's observation came with a suggestion on how to take care of the issue. Many analysts had recently argued play should stop altogether if a player loses a shoe.
“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,” said Kerr. “Easier said than done, but I thought they were reasonable taking the technical back.”
Following the win, DeMarcus Cousins sarcastically argued that he would leave the shoe on the court next time, potentially risking someone suffering a non-contact injury. That statement resonated with many in the basketball world, given Zion Williamson's recent injury and Cousins' torn Achilles, which sidelined him for nearly a full season.
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