Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins is hardly the first big-name NBA player to sustain a serious quadriceps injury. So did Charles Barkley, Blake Griffin, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard and Victor Oladipo.

The bad news for Cousins: Barkley’s injury ended his career, and the other four players each endured a long recovery and rehabilitation.

The good news for Cousins: He tore his quad muscle and didn’t rupture his tendon, as Parker and Oladipo did. That’s why they needed surgery and took several months to recover.

Even a severely torn quad muscle typically requires six-plus weeks of recovery, according to Dr. Brian Schulz, a sports medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. One example: Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox missed less than three weeks after he partially tore his right quadriceps muscle in December 2017.

The extent of Cousins’ torn muscle is unclear. He will be sidelined indefinitely and begin rehabilitation immediately, the Warriors announced Tuesday. Their news release made no mention of damage to his tendon. A source told The Chronicle that he will not have surgery.

Barkley, watching Monday night’s Clippers-Warriors game in his role as a TNT analyst on “Inside the NBA,” still winced when Cousins went down.

“That looked like my leg when I blew out my quad,” Barkley said on the show. “I’m just really concerned. I saw him walking to the locker room, and he grabbed right where I grabbed.”

Barkley, like Parker and Oladipo, ruptured the tendon that attaches the thigh to the kneecap. Barkley suffered the injury Dec. 8, 1999, and played in only one game thereafter, a six-minute cameo appearance on April 19, 2000.

Here’s a quick look at notable NBA players to sustain serious quadriceps injuries in recent years:

Blake Griffin

Date: Dec. 25, 2015

Nature of injury: Griffin had a partially torn quadriceps tendon. He told reporters the quad started bothering him in early December 2015, and he played a few more weeks before the pain became too strong to continue.

Recovery: Griffin missed more than three months and 45 games before returning to the Clippers on April 3, 2016.

Stats: His numbers stayed about the same after his injury. Griffin averaged 21.4 points and 8.4 rebounds in the season when he got hurt, and 21.6 points and 8.1 rebounds the next season.

Tony Parker

Date: May 3, 2017

Nature of injury: Parker ruptured his left quadriceps tendon in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals. His San Antonio teammates carried him off the court.

Recovery: Parker, who was two weeks shy of his 35th birthday when he got hurt, had surgery May 5. He missed the rest of the 2017 playoffs and the first 19 games of the 2017-18 regular season. Parker returned to action Nov. 27, nearly seven months after his injury.

Stats: Parker averaged 10.9 points and 4.5 assists in the regular season preceding his injury. His numbers fell to 7.7 points and 3.5 assists the next season (playing fewer minutes per game), though he increased his scoring this season for Charlotte (9.5 average).

Kawhi Leonard

Date: May 14, 2017

Nature of injury: Leonard got injured in Game 1 of the West finals against the Warriors. The injury was later diagnosed as right quadriceps tendinopathy.

Recovery: Leonard’s rehab became a source of lingering tension with the Spurs, as he preferred to consult his own doctors. He missed all but nine games of the 2017-18 season and ultimately was traded to Toronto in July 2018.

Stats: Leonard averaged career highs of 26.6 points and 7.3 rebounds this season for the Raptors.

De’Aaron Fox

Date: Dec. 14, 2017

Nature of injury: Fox initially bruised his thigh in a game against the Timberwolves. He aggravated the injury Dec. 19, prompting the MRI exam that revealed a partially torn quad muscle.

Recovery: Fox missed six games before returning Jan. 2, 2018.

Stats: Fox scored 17 points in his first game back for the Kings, and he since has turned into one of the league’s most dynamic young players. He averaged 11.6 points last season as a rookie, then 17.3 points this season.

Victor Oladipo

Date: Jan. 23, 2019

Nature of injury: Oladipo ruptured his right quadriceps tendon in Indiana’s game against Toronto.

Recovery: He had surgery five days later. The Pacers didn’t immediately announce a timetable for Oladipo’s recovery, but he missed the final three months of the regular season and will not return for the playoffs.

Stats: Oladipo, age 26, was averaging 18.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists at the time of his injury.

Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rkroichick@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ronkroichick