Logan Murdock walked into the Warriors’ locker room knowing DeMarcus Cousins was pissed at him.

The Ringer NBA writer appeared on The Press Box podcast with Bryan Curtis and Joel Anderson last week and told the story of reporting on Cousins’ injury timeline during the 2018-19 season, and what happened when the notoriously combustible center found out about it.

“I remember one time I reported that DeMarcus Cousins was trying to come back around Christmas,” Murdock said. “This is when DeMarcus was on the team for the year, and he was really trying to get back because he was trying to get a new contract at that time. It didn’t really work out for him in New Orleans, and he signed a mid-level exception with Golden State. He was really trying to get back fast so he can get paid again.”

You’re a Warriors beat writer.

What do you do when Boogie Cousins doesn’t like your story?

Full interview with @loganmmurdock here: https://t.co/EM3fOZ5txD @byjoelanderson pic.twitter.com/O3Cahwnvfe

— Bryan Curtis (@bryancurtis) February 14, 2026

Cousins had ruptured his left Achilles tendon in January 2018 while playing for the Pelicans, and when he signed with Golden State on a one-year, $5.3 million deal that July, it was widely seen as a prove-it contract. The expectation was that Cousins would rehab with the Warriors, return to the court, prove he was healthy, and then cash in during the 2019 free agency period. The timeline mattered both for Cousins’ future earnings and for how quickly the Warriors could integrate a four-time All-Star into their championship rotation.

Murdock, who was covering the Warriors for The Mercury News at the time, reported in late November 2018 that Cousins was targeting a return sometime after Christmas. The story cited numerous sources and noted that Cousins was progressing well in his rehab.

Sources: Warriors’ injured center DeMarcus Cousins is ramping up his workload on his Achilles and is targeting a return to the lineup after Christmas. https://t.co/S2bcXPYyut via @mercnews

— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) November 26, 2018

Cousins did not see it that way.

“I reported on, you know, his what he wanted his injury timeline to be, and he was not happy with that at all,” Murdock said. “He was pissed.”

The confrontation came in the locker room. Warriors PR legend Raymond Ridder approached Murdock with a warning.

“I went in there, and I remember Raymond Ridder is a PR guy — he’s a PR legend in Golden State — and he came up to me, and he was like, ‘DeMarcus ain’t happy with you,’” Murdock said.

“And I just went like, ‘And?’ And I just went into the locker room, and I was like, ‘Let’s talk.’ And he, you know, said what he had to say and, you know, I responded,d and that was that.”

Murdock didn’t elaborate on what Cousins said or how heated the exchange got, but he made it clear that he wasn’t particularly intimidated by the situation.

“I’m not gonna say like I come from like the hardest environment, but like, you know, when I was growing up, there was a lot more things to worry about than somebody yelling at you and probably not actually gonna do anything to you,” Murdock said. “So, you know, you got over it. Once you, you know, somebody yelled, like I’ve been yelled at before in like real life, with more dire consequences. So it wasn’t like that big of a deal. So once I got through it, it was like whatever.”

Cousins had a well-documented history of confrontations with media members, particularly during his Sacramento years. In December 2016, Cousins went on a profanity-laced tirade at Sacramento Bee columnist Andy Furillo over a column about Cousins and Matt Barnes being sued over an alleged assault at a New York nightclub, telling Furillo, “We’re going to have some real f*cking issues. Don’t ever mention my brother again.” In 2012, Cousins was suspended for two games after confronting Spurs broadcaster Sean Elliott following a game, apparently upset by Elliott’s on-air criticism of Cousins for talking trash to Tim Duncan.

Murdock’s story turned out to be accurate, being that Cousins was assigned to Golden State’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz for a full-contact practice on Dec. 10, and he made his Warriors debut on Jan 18, 2019, scoring 14 points in a win over the Clippers. That’s right in line with the “after Christmas” timeline Murdock had reported.

Murdock, who left Bay Area News Group for NBC Sports Bay Area and then joined The Ringer in 2020, has carved out a strong reputation as an NBA writer. Kevin Durant put him on blast in 2025 for a Ringer column about Durant’s issues with Steve Kerr being a factor in his 2019 departure from Golden State, with Durant calling it an “obvious opportunity for Logan Murdock to gain even more attention and try to revive his career by using my name.” But Murdock has consistently produced high-quality reporting on the Warriors and the NBA more broadly, and the Cousins story is a good reminder of what that actually requires.

Beat writing isn’t always just transcribing quotes and filing game recaps. Sometimes it’s walking into a locker room knowing a 6-foot-11 center is waiting to yell at you.