Kings center DeMarcus Cousins was admitted to a local hospital Tuesday night after a “setback involving a fever and headaches,” according to head coach Michael Malone.
Malone called the hospital stay “precautionary” and indicated that he was under the impression that Cousins was on his way out of the hospital when the two spoke on the phone Wednesday morning.
“(The doctors) just wanted to be safe,” said Malone. “I spoke to him this morning. He sounded better and I’ll probably stop by and go see him a little later on today to make sure he’s all right.”
Malone described the hospital admittance as, “Making sure he was OK, get his fever down try to get him as comfortable as possible.”
Cousins was at shoot around Tuesday morning at the Kings practice facility and was at Sleep Train Arena warming up when it was determined that he would be held out of the Kings 117-109 loss to the Raptors.
[RECAP: Kings fall to Raptors, lose fourth straight]
Admitting that he’s not a doctor, Malone said that Cousins’ effort to warm up and try to play last night “speaks to his competitive nature.”
The Kings are not expecting Cousins in action to play this weekend against Indiana and Orlando.
However, a full recovery for Cousins is expected and the Kings are hoping the NBA’s leading rebounder and seventh leading scorer will be back on the floor next week.
“When he (Cousins) comes back we’ll be a better team for it but in the meantime, other guys have to step up,” said Malone.
“We have to collectively find a way to get back to defending and winning basketball games."
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The Kings (9-9) have yet to win without Cousins who has been out for the past three games as Sacramento is in the midst of a four-game losing streak.
Cousins is averaging 23.5 points and 12.6 rebounds per game, and is second in the NBA with 12 double-doubles.
