Having already ruled out Stephen Curry through at least next Monday, the Warriors will also be without the other half of their starting backcourt for the next several games. According to Chris Haynes of ESPN (Twitter link), Klay Thompson suffered a fractured right thumb during Sunday’s loss to Minnesota and will be re-evaluated next Thursday, March 22.
Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic first reported that Klay’s injury – initially ruled a sprained right thumb – may be more serious than first believed. As The Athletic scribe detailed, there was a “growing concern” in Golden State that the injury could take weeks to heal.
However, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets that Thompson is expected to return before the end of the month. Sam Amick of USA Today corroborates that account, tweeting that the Dubs are confident the veteran sharpshooter will be able to get back on the court not long after he’s re-evaluated next week — the injury isn’t expected to linger, Amick adds.
While Thompson should be ready to go well before the postseason gets underway, the Warriors have been hit hard by the injury bug as of late. Besides Thompson and Curry, Patrick McCaw is sidelined, leaving little depth in the backcourt. Draymond Green, who is battling various knee, shoulder, and elbow ailments, won’t play on Wednesday either. And David West, Jordan Bell, Andre Iguodala, and Nick Young have also been dealing with nagging injuries.
Like the No. 2 Celtics in the East, the Warriors to focus on getting as many players as possible healthy for the playoffs, putting their quest for the conference’s top seed on the back burner. Golden State is currently two games back of the No. 1 Rockets in that race.
The Warriors’ next three games are against lottery teams, so their depleted lineup shouldn’t have much impact on the playoff race. However, the Spurs, fighting for their playoff lives, will host Golden State next Monday and will certainly be happy to avoid seeing Thompson and Curry.
Is Sterling asking them to fake injuries to make the end of season games and playoffs more compelling?
Sterling, Silver* lol
Probably tried to break dance at Steph’s 30th birthday and hurt himself more. damn it China Klay
This is the type of perfect storm that could temporarily halt the Warriors dynasty. A team (the Rockets) out in the West that is healthy, has beaten the Warriors, and is just barely behind GS in regards to odds to make the Finals while the Warriors are going through an injury bug. While they definitely have the talent to overcome some injuries and have overcome injuries in the past (namely Durant and Curry), the team as a whole hasn’t been this banged up all at once. Golden State has had some luck with injuries affecting playoff series (Kyrie and Love in the first GS-Cleveland matchup and Kawhi being out for the series against the Spurs last postseason) so it’ll be interesting to see if the team can get healthy in time for the playoffs.
They are still the best team when Iggy is on the court with the big 4. If they can keep Houston games close they can close out with that group for the playoff win. But it is what, close to 50-50 that that lineup won’t be available for one injury or another!