The Warriors have lost their last four games, as well as five of their last six, and Draymond Green‘s suspension following an altercation with Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert on Tuesday makes matters more difficult, writes NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole. Green was suspended five games by the NBA for “escalating an on-court altercation and forcibly grabbing (Gobert) around the neck in an unsportsmanlike and dangerous manner.”
On top of being without Green, Stephen Curry is battling a minor knee injury and will miss his second straight game on Thursday night against the Thunder. To overcome the absences of Green and Curry, the Warriors are going to need everyone else to step up, including offseason acquisition Chris Paul, according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson. Paul started off the year with just six turnovers in his first eight games, including no turnovers in four straight games, but has 10 in his last four outings.
“We’re not doing a great job of getting organized,” Green said. “I’ve got to do a better job of making sure we’re getting into some things. Chris got to do a better job. We both need to do a better job of getting us into things. When Steph’s got it going, he’s just moving and going. It’s on us to realize that and learn how to also use him when he’s got it going to get other guys looks as well.”
Rookie Brandin Podziemski made the most of an extended opportunity without Green against Minnesota, finishing that game with 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He’s going to stay in the rotation moving forward, according to Johnson.
“I look at myself like a spare tire,” Podziemski said. “Whenever something is wrong with the tire, I just go in and fix it. Whatever coach asks me, that is what I have to do.”
Trayce Jackson-Davis and Dario Saric should also see their opportunities continue to grow. Saric started against the Wolves and recorded 21 points. Both his and Podziemski’s contributions allowed the Warriors to almost win that game and should keep them competitive moving forward. Johnson adds that Klay Thompson, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and Andrew Wiggins need to step up as well.
We have more on the Warriors:
- Head coach Steve Kerr was fully supportive of the NBA’s decision to suspend Green when speaking to reporters on Thursday. According to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews (Twitter link), Green took it too far in taking action against Gobert and Kerr called the suspension “deserved.” “Draymond has to find a way to not cross the line – I’m not talking about an ejection or a technical – I’m talking about a physical act of violence. That’s inexcusable,” Kerr said (Twitter link via Andrews).
- Third-year forward Jonathan Kuminga is starting in place of Green on Thursday, tweets The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. Kerr’s instructions for Kuminga were to “run the floor, rebound, dive, get to the line. I want him to shoot the 3.” Kuminga is averaging 11.5 points in his first 11 games this season. Thursday’s game will be his 29th career start and he averages 12.2 points as a starter in his career.
- The Green suspension also has some financial implications for the Warriors. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), Green will forfeit $769,705 in salary, which will save the Warriors $2,597,762. The Warriors receive a tax variance credit which is worth 50% of Green’s lost salary and that variance is applied to team salary that counts toward the tax, Marks explains.
- Curry remains one of the league’s top players, but he’s thinking about his post-playing career, according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson. Curry “absolutely” wants to be an NBA owner in the future. “Understanding the business and how the NBA is run, what all goes into this huge behemoth of an operation, it fascinates you to understand, where’s the future headed?” Curry said. “The league has changed so much in the 15 years I’ve been in and hopefully I’ll be still playing for a good while.“
Curry is load managing, obviously.
What else is there to say about Draymond? Guy will be in jail by the end of the season and I promise the snarky comments won’t feel as fun in the context of a lost life. *shrugs* smh
Curry is injured
Kuminga is the classic sell high asset. His value has essentially plummeted since the day he was drafted.
Looked fantastic in summer league and preseason
I’d def make an offer on him if he was up for sale
You wouldn’t have to give up near as much, and if you did, you’d be fired immediately. Also, we talking about summer league and preseason bruv?
Classic Draymond. Getting suspensended when Curry isn’t going to be out there. So nobody will see how insane ineffective he would be on an average team. Laughable he is going to make the hall of fame just because of narratives the Warriors made up
I don’t like Draymond Green at all but they’re no narratives need to be made up. He absolutely deserves to make the Hall of Fame. The narratives that matter are he’s a DPOY, 8x All-Defense, 2x All-star and 4x NBA Champion. The Warriors also wouldn’t have one a single championship without him.
“The Warriors wouldn’t have a single championship without him”. Lmao there it is.
Crazy how the Warriors went from this dynasty run with Curry Klay and Dray, added KD and dominated. Too now days struggling to win unless Curry plays phenomenally. It’s gone from 3/4 hall of famers in their prime to 1 guy carrying a heavy load real quick.
Bob Myers has done a terrific job running away before blowing things up o that way when people they they needed to trade so and so or whatever to stay good he won’t take as much criticism. Who knows maybe he wanted to do a deal amd got told no….
To me it’s pretty clear Klay should go, the defence isn’t what it once was. He shooting is very streaky, he’s never going to return back to his best and HSW to their credit have done well developing young SG’s.
On top of that I think CP3 wasn’t the best addition, he’s just old and expensive and for a back up you already have Gary Payton.
This is what happens when the window is closed but nobody wants to face into it.
Not even that it’s closed it’s just not happening for you if you don’t make any changes. Curry definitely could still lead them to a title just the rest of the roster needs a freshen up
Its called age factor. Only Curry is still producing at a high level. Klay is not playing as well as he used to play. Look at LeBron he is slowing down even AD looks to be slowing down. Once over 30 NBA because very tough for most players.
It’s insane that 25/9/7 on great efficiency can be considered “slowing down” for anyone. LeBron is just built different.
It’s not just age, though for GSW. The balance of offensive plays is skewed for the Warriors. The starters look way more passive than they should be. Wiggins and CP3 both lagging compared to what they should be is *really* hurting the Warriors’ ball movement and openness on offense, especially when Steph is either out or not on the floor (which is exactly what CP3 was supposedly brought in to mitigate). I would honestly play GP2 more and Wiggins less, with the way things are going. He’s at least being aggressive and playing good D when he gets minutes. Wiggins looks lost. Saric has looked fine. Draymond looks like Draymond. Looney looks normal, maybe a bit less aggressive than usual but nothing obvious.
Klay, meanwhile, looks like he’s just having a slow start. He’s always had stretches where he can’t hit jack, but the underlying shooting numbers make it look more like a blip than a continuous problem. He’s definitely needing to be more aggressive with cutting and attacking the basket, though, because his pullup 3s aren’t falling at all thanks to aggressive closeouts. He should be more aggressive offense in general, really, as he’s just shooting way less overall. The Warriors are better when he draws opposing defenses.
Of the young guys, Moody and Pod look solid, but neither are getting the touches they should even with the second unit, and Kuminga looks like he’s forcing things. He looks entirely out of whack on offense. TJD has promise, but he’s not playing much, understandably. He’d be very helpful on defense if the team trusted him more, though.
Coming from a Wolves fan I was so excited when we got Wiggins. He showed flashes of what he could become. He has all the talent in the world but doesn’t have the drive/motivation. It seems he plays hard when he wants to. He is in the beginning of a big new contract so doesn’t seem to have a lot of motivation right now. I like the kid but he’s gotta get his motor going.
Too old, too small, too expensive … Dunleavy has to make significant move to give Curry a last ring
Amazing that Kerr can give directions so tailored to a specific player. I guess that’s why he’s paid what he is.