After previously announcing that Draymond Green would miss Friday’s matchup with the defending champion Thunder, the Warriors have also ruled out Stephen Curry (left ankle sprain) and Jimmy Butler (illness), per Anthony Slater and Shams Charania of ESPN.
It’s the first half of a back-to-back set, and the Warriors are hopeful that all three players will be back on Saturday vs. Utah, according to Slater and Charania. It’s also worth noting that Friday’s game will be nationally televised, which means Curry and Butler couldn’t be rested without legitimate ailments, since they qualify as “stars” under the NBA’s player participation policy. Green, who doesn’t meet the star criteria, is listed on the injury report as out due to “rest.”
With three starters sidelined, forward Jonathan Kuminga is expected to play on Friday for the first time in over two weeks, head coach Steve Kerr said today during a radio appearance on 95.7 The Game (Twitter link).
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Hawks guard Trae Young (right quad contusion) has been ruled out for a third consecutive game and won’t be available on Friday in New York, tweets Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks. Young was initially listed as questionable, which suggests he’s considered day-to-day and should probably return soon, barring a setback.
- Kings guard Zach LaVine will miss a ninth straight game on Friday vs. Phoenix due to a left ankle sprain. Asked on Thursday if he had any updates on LaVine’s status, head coach Doug Christie had little to offer, telling reporters there’s “nothing new” (Twitter video link via James Ham of The Kings Beat).
- The Pistons were without Tobias Harris (left hip sprain) and Caris LeVert (left knee inflammation) for Thursday’s loss to Miami (Twitter links via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press and Hunter Patterson of The Athletic). Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said that LeVert’s injury, which has kept him on the shelf for the past two games, is one they’ve been managing all season and that it “flared up on him” this week. As for Harris, Bickerstaff suggested he would have more info on the forward’s prognosis within the next few days.
OK, Kuminga’s big opportunity is coming tonight. I can hardly contain myself! 😃
He didn’t even play. Is he injured ?
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Quack quack warriors!
Melton is out too for the warriors. i wonder if OKC will rest some of their players too.
What’s the over/under on how many minutes Kuminga plays? 20?
So much for the rumor that there’s a trade in place already…
It is kinda like the rumors that there was a huge market for him last off season.
Jonathan Kuminga is not playing tonight.
Kerr announces that “Kuminga will play for sure” and that he has told Kuminga “We need you tonight”.
Then Kerr doesn’t play Kuminga.
No coach that behaves this way can lead a team.
Its absolutely insane how anyone can defend Kerr at this point. He is just doing malpractice in some form every single day. If he doesn’t believe in this team or it’s future, why not quit and retire then?
His latest quote is just more proof:
“We know we’re not where we were 5/6 years ago…I don’t want anybody to think that we’re delusional and thinking we should be competing for titles year in and year out with San Antonio and OKC”
link to streamable.com
Huh? What’s the point? Is that a complaint about Kerr? His quote sounds more like a reality check. 5 years ago, SA and OKC were losing teams. GSW is not on their level today. If they made it to the playoffs, they could go on a run.
Or, do you have problem with those Arizona guys?
@Giants74
Given that GSW is 2-0 vs the Spurs in San Antonio, don’t you think Kerr is sending the wrong message?
A team that has Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler and a young core should not be coached by a clown who says crap like this. Kerr makes me furious, 24-7. Just retire if you don’t believe in the team you grifting corrupt moron.
So, you are mad that you can’t deal with reality. Changing coaches isn’t going to change the Warriors situation. Every team goes through this.
> A team that has Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler
> and a young core should not be coached by
> a clown who says crap like this.
EXACTLY.
1. Lacob and Dunleavey have been dedicated to rebuilding around Steph, not a 5 year farewell tour.
2. Why would Steph want to stick around to play for a team that doesn’t plan on winning.
3. Why would any other player want to join a sinking ship.
Why is Lacob not publicly distancing himself from Kerr’s idiotic comments? Makes no sense. Kerr is just outwardly saying things that little league coaches say NEVER to do, the very basics of entry-level coaching. What does Kerr think will happen when the players hear their coach does not believe in them? This is the worst professional coaching I have ever seen on any level in any sport. Not enough talking about this.
I have said it before, but I totally understand 100% why MJ punched Kerr. He is so infuriating, such a poor communicator. He really did get gifted the Hampton’s 5 and went “ok guys…ball out!” and that was his job and even worse, people think that was “good coaching” because he won. But he ONLY won because of Steph. Steph won those games in SPITE of Kerr.
should have taken the under/under aka 0
Kerr is extremely bad at his job and always has been.
Oh great, can’t wait to watch Kerr play Kuminga with 4 shooting guards then blame Kuminga when it doesn’t work….every time, its like groundhog day with this idiot and the coward who won’t fire him….
White flag….Okc won’t hold prisoners.
I’ll believe Kuminga will play when I see it ……
link to yardbarker.com
Al you called it (although it was an easy one).
Kuminga (active) – DNP
Every other active player gets minutes. GSW will only develop players under Kerr if it forces him to play 8 and 9 man rosters due to injury. He is allergic to that, and instead wants to play as many different SGs as possible. I hate him. So much.
They must have a trade in place. Not going to mess it up.
This seems likely. Kerr was going to play him but was overruled by the front office.
Even the reason is suspect – “lower back soreness” which somehow happened without playing.
There’s such a solid case for Kerr to be engaging in corruption via gambling. He literally created this position “connector guy” that is not a basketball term, it is utterly meaningless, it means “guy I am going to play in every single rotation” and its not his best guy, its always some annoying loser like Podz. Logically it makes zero sense. It should be Curry, Green or Jimmy. It’s Podz. Podz gets top 4 minutes per game when he isn’t in the top 4 players on the team. It’s to purposely handicap the Warriors. No other coach says stuff like this. We can all see it. Kuminga is better than almost everyone on this roster and gets DNP’d for no reason. The team leader in rebounds a game gets DNP while Scottie Barnes gets 25 rebounds. Cool coaching. Totally legitimate. Not.
Cry about it
😃
“Podz gets top 4 minutes per game when he isn’t in the top 4 players on the team.”
He’s 3rd in ppg, tied for 4th in apg, 5th in rpg (0.1 reb behind Horford), 5th in spg, and 3rd in VORP.
Yes, due to all the massive amounts of minutes he gets. He isn’t putting up 0/0/0, I am not arguing that. I am arguing his talent level places him about 7th or 8th on this team.
Moody, Richard and Melton are all 5x the player Podz is. Podz defense is beyond wretched. All 3 of those guys destroys Podz on defense from the shooting guard position (Moody and Richard stink defensively if played as a forward). He plays like a bootleg Russ or Russ with like 50% of his talent, but Podz haphazard, all over the place style and Russ’s style of play are the antithesis of Curry/Warriors system. Shame on anyone who thinks Podz is a good player in this league. No one will ever win with Podz being a main piece on the court. He should be getting DNPs.
Spencer also plays negative defense, so he only works as a regular, offense-minded PG when he has 4 better defenders out there, not small guards or Podz. Podz and Pat should never see one minute on court together.