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Former Kentucky Wildcats nearing NBA season debuts

The already stacked NBA Western Conference is only getting better.

NBA: Golden State Warriors at Utah Jazz Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Two of the best to ever suit up at Kentucky are nearing their respective NBA season debuts for new teams in the absurdly competitive Western Conference.

DeMarcus Cousins took a major step in his recovery from that devastating Achilles tear, as he has been assigned to the Santa Cruz Warriors, the G-League affiliate of the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. Cousins participated in their practice, but there is no word on if he will be playing in any of their games.

Cousins had been reportedly aiming to return to Golden State’s lineup sometime after Christmas and we are of course nearing that supposed time-window. The Achilles injury is considered the most difficult to come back fully from, and the only concern with this is if it’s still too early for this to be happening. Considering that it hasn’t been a full year since the injury it’s not out of the question.

Brandon Knight hasn’t played in an NBA game since February of 2017 because of a torn ACL suffered the offseason before the 2017-2018 season. Fortunately he is expected to make his season debut and team debut with the Houston Rockets as soon as next week.

Knight was traded to the Rockets from Phoenix for Ryan Anderson and De’Anthony Melton at the end of August. As it stands he should be the lead guard of Houston’s bench unit. In what’s been a massively disappointing season for the Rockets the addition of Knight to their lineup is one of their last hopes to pull their season around.