The injuries keep piling up for the Warriors. Already without Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, they are dealing with four more injuries, as Anthony Slater of ESPN details.
Draymond Green was scratched 30 minutes before tip-off of Friday’s loss to Minnesota because of lower back soreness. Al Horford departed after five minutes with right calf tightness. Seth Curry limped to the locker room in the second quarter with left adductor soreness and Quinten Post sprained his left ankle.
“We’re going through it,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re about as beaten up as any team I can ever remember.”
Kerr expects Horford to miss several games. “With a calf, we’re not going to rush him back,” he said.
Stephen Curry missed his 16th consecutive game and the Warriors have gone 5-11 in that stretch. Now, they embark on a six-game road trip.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- There was a bright spot for the Warriors on Friday. Midseason acquisition Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points and told reporters after the game that he feels like he’s fitting in, according to Michael Wagaman of NBC Sports Bay Area. “We’re starting to develop a decent feel,” Porziņgis said. “I think guys are getting accustomed to playing with me. It’s progress. We’re getting better for sure. Overall, I think we’re heading in the right direction.”
- Clippers center Brook Lopez is in the midst of his 18th season and he’s aiming for more, he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “I always had a number of 20 years. A lot of great players played 20 years [whom] I looked up to,” he said. “Timmy [Duncan], Kobe [Bryant]. I think Ticket [Kevin Garnett] got there. That’s always been a goal of mine, but I feel great. So now that we’re as far along as we are, I don’t really want to put a cap on it. Just see how long we can keep going until we fall.” The Clippers have a decision to make early in the summer regarding Lopez. They hold a $9.19MM team option on his 2026/27 contract. He’s averaging 11.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game since the All-Star break.
- Deandre Ayton has developed into the Lakers’ X factor, Khobi Price of the California Post contends. The Lakers are 27-8 when he grabs at least eight rebounds and 24-9 when he takes at least eight shot attempts. Ayton had 23 points and 10 rebounds against Chicago on Thursday. Ayton holds a $8.1MM player option on his contract for next season.
the warriors are last year’s Grizzlies with the all injury team. The Curry brothers may have broken the record for most injuries by 2 brothers in 1 season. I see a 10 day contract in the warriors near future.
Charles Bassey just might be that 10 day contract. He has been impressing with the Sea Dubs.
I bet he will be signed very soon if Post going to be out a extended time.
Hopefully, they won’t let these injuries go to waste. Cyr, Leons, Williams, Santos, Richard all need the minutes. Throw them in the fire and let them make their mistakes. The Warriors will know what they need to work on going forward.
Hopefully, Celebrini can continue work his magic and get KP into a good space. Bassey looks like he’ll get a contract for next season. That will be be the most big men they have had since they were forced to give up Bogut and Ezeli for KD. If they keep Post and Horford, we might see bigs at multiple positions.
Then, they can find Curry’s successor in the draft.
Watching the Warriors these last few weeks or month, I can see that Cryer is not an NBA player. Not fast enough for his size and won’t be able to get his shot off against a real NBA defender. At 5-11 and releasing your jumper from your chin only works when you’re 12.
Santos is someone everyone can like but he’s just not good enough. He gives you everything but you hope your energy guy at the forward position is 6-9 and not 6-6.
At 6–6 you have to have better handles better shooting and be quicker. Without those skills,Santos is definitely a forward, but just not big enough to be effective on a playoff team.
Cryer might be that 14th or 15th player on the bench to shoot 3s when you need him. Jury still out on his defense because last night all the warriors were outsized.
Will Richards making me wonder if his offense is good enough to make it in the NBA. His defense is good but i have not seen much since the first few games when he came up.
Santos is a good bench player but can he make the leap to being a starter. Again with the small lineup is it fair to judge him when there is so many bad defenders in this second lineup.
Leons ? Please.
I am intrigued by Will Richard. Not sure what to make of him yet. He’s gutsy and will shoot without regret, but will he stick? I’d appreciate anyone else’s insight regarding his future because I have no read on him right now.
Here are my thoughts. In 22, they won with Poole and Looney having career years. In 23, as they tried to defend their title, the bench really sucked. It relied on a young Kuminga, Moody, Wiseman, and a not so good Poole. I thought extending Poole was a huge mistake. They should have let RFA. These guys were raw and untested. I understand that the guys I’m talking about the current team are not stars. Finding stars takes time. Having a cheap reliable bench can help a team succeed.
You’re not wrong. You make great points.
Deandre Ayton is not an X factor, and correlation does not equal causation.
He gets stats and feels motivated when they play bad teams and/or he has an obvious physical mismatch.
If the CA Post is as bad as the NY Post, that would explain such a braindead take.
Ayton is basically a more talented Christian Wood. Obviously a different skillset, but there’s a reason the latter is already out of the league. He’s lucky he’s made it thus far fooling teams who believe in the “I can change him” meme.
Funny how Ca Post is owned by NY Post.
Lol I didn’t actually expect that to be true. That’s funny.
Mentally yes Shea great comp
Physically tho Aytons so much more gifted ( tho he doesn’t use it much )
Will be interesting indeed how long Ayton can earn more than say the TpMle ( 6 mill ) and if he even cares to play on anything less or even vet min
He’s so frustrating , his agent must be pissed. Had a great opportunity to be a prize in a weak FA and pissing it away
Is he still a degenerate gamer these days? I remember reading about his gaming habits while he was with the Suns and they threw up some big red flags.
Let me preface this by saying I don’t have any issue with gaming or gamers in general (I’m one myself). But iirc, he would play until ungodly hours most nights while only getting a few hours of sleep. That, combined with his poor motor, made it fair to wonder about his dedication to the game and that has obviously rung true with the benefit of hindsight. Not suggesting gaming is necessarily the cause though; he might just not care under any circumstances in which he isn’t “the guy”.
But if so, maybe he needs an intervention where he’s surrounded by teammates drinking wine out of beer cans who go around and roast him (just make sure he doesn’t have a gun on him first!)
Yes big big gamer still , ton of these dudes are tho
Without sounding too harsh I think he might be on the Spectrum as well … which hell, we all are in sone manner but ya know what I mean .
* he just had one of the weirdest press conferences couple games ago after a great game / win
We are all confused as everyone in the presser was giving flowers and throwing. Softballs up for him
Weird guy that we will probably never understand
You guys did well to stay clear of Ayton’s most obvious problem, at least reputationally.
True. It was less the amount he was playing and more the fact that would play until like 6am and get 3hrs of sleep or something crazy. Granted, everyone is different (I have a friend who is a successful business owner and he has done fine getting 4-5hrs of sleep a night since high school). And, yeah, I could see him being on the spectrum.
Whatever his deal is, it’s obviously a bad sign he’s been through several organizations with essentially no change in behavior. But I’m skeptical on the money being a motivating factor even if it drops further since he’s already had to take a big pay cut and still hasn’t changed his demeanor.
Maybe if he struggles to find interest on his next foray into free agency it will finally wake him up. But my gut tells me he’ll just go overseas where he can be the guy and get paid relatively well.
Def skeptical myself
I’d be super scared giving him multiple years as yea I thought this was the wake up call this year
He’s played w so much more energy tho the last week I think his agent had a real talk w him
Sad he can’t even go hard for 82 and feels 20 is enough
I think he has ONE more chance but I’m with you I’d bet he doesn’t take it serious even then
Im going to push back a little here as someone whoes seen every Laker game this year
He is the X factor imo , but that’s also super scary . You never know when he’s gonna show up
He’s on a 3 gane heater rn but it’s probably fueled by his agent telling him he needs to play harder to get a new bag in the summer
My hope is that money will continue to motivate him and he does find that new team
It’s more scary that he is the X factor than isn’t imo for Lake Nation . Guy is super weird and an unserious fella no doubt so I get the heat your bringing
Losing to both the jazz and the Bulls this week was the official end of the season.
Curry’s not coming back. Not official but write it down.
Warriors are trying to get a better pick instead of trying to win regular season games for home court in a play-in game and wind up at draft number 13 or 14.
Dubs have been locked into the 8-10 seed for a while now. They’re better off load-managing til the play-ins….
It’s over for the Warriors Jerry.
They’re probably locked into the play-in game as you say, but they won’t try to win it.
In other words, no load managing whatsoever.
Losing secures maybe the 11th pick or so? Winning results in 13th or 14th pick territory ?
It’s already been realized by everyone involved. They’re done.
Well, there’s no way to get a lotto pick at this point. They’re 9 games up on Memphis with 16 to go. Might as well get ready for the play-in and try to make some noise….
@JerrysToupee,
The Warriors absolutely can be in the lottery, which is for the worst FOURTEEN teams in the league, not the worst TEN. A team qualifies for the lottery if they don’t make it past the play-in.
The Warriors are highly unlikely to win 2 straight play-in games, so they’re highly likely to be in the lottery.
Although teams in the 11-14 spots have only ~9% chance of landing a top 4 pick, that’s something. Ask Atlanta, who lucked into the 1st pick after making it to the playoffs-in a couple of years ago.
IMO, GSW expects to be in the lottery.
Given the clippers and suns then spurs and OKC. Yea, GS players playing to be in league next year. Most will not be. They look dreadful.
“load-managing till the play-ins?”
Who’s a candidate to be “load managed”? We’re short-handed by 7 guys, we’re looking for warm bodies.
Even Steph needs to get back into the lineup ASAP if he expects to be in form in a month. We’re gettting close to the point where re-conditioning won’t be possible.
> Curry’s not coming back. Not official but write it down.
That makes sense insofar as next season GSW must tank. Steph’s presence will make it hard to get a high lottery pick.
But I doubt he’s traded, even if the organization could get over all the symbolic stuff.
He’ll be 39 next season, with 1 year left on a >$60M contract, and he hasn’t been reliably available since the beginning of the Minnesota playoff last season.
IMO, likely scenario is Steph agrees to help the team through the rebuild, and waits until the end of 2026-27 season to see whether he will play into his 40th year.
Not traded, but not coming back this season to play. Gearing up for next year.
Gotcha, I misread your post. There is so much scuttlebutt in the national media this week about Steph being traded after this season that I thought that’s what you were talking about.
Any sports gamblers here?
Take every dime you have and put it all together with whatever you can borrow from family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and put the entire load on the Warriors play-in game.
I make a lot of dumb predictions, but this is the biggest no-brainer in the history of the world.
Warriors lose their play-in game.
Warriors should just forfeit the play-in and save everyone the embarrassment.
aristotle speaking out from his behind again. Atlanta drafted first back in 2024 after being knocked out of the play in.
Just last week he was saying they can win in first rd …. Only took a week huh . aristotle always lies to make his takes sound better. Like all The Wagoneers lol. Hawks were 10th place And won the lottery with a 3% chance.
And took wrong player …
He like other Dubs delulus keep on moving goalposts to fit their narrative yet they keep saying its the other posters that are doing that. Majority of them keeps on deflecting once facts are presented to them. Worst they’ll block you for just stating facts. Softest fan base and the most delusional ever.
You know them lol. Entitled
Agreed that GSW will not be trying to reach the playoffs. They want to be in the lotto.
But not so fast, Muchacho. Remember that they have 2 shots at losing 1 game. So, if they win their first play-in and tank in the 2nd, it’s still mission accomplished.
My money is on Steve “Mad King” Kerr taking one last shot against the organization as he heads out the door. Kerr will try to win the first game so the team drops a few more picks down in the draft
Out the door ? You don’t think Kerr coaches one more year?
Kerr is not coming back because they are not “running it back”. The strategy of using the oldest team in the history NBA failed disastrously this season. Next season will be worse.
Kerr says in the article, “We’re about as beaten up as any team I can ever remember.” To be expected when we’re the oldest team in history.
Yes, there will be Steph, but he’ll miss 1/2 this season at 38 years old, and the cupboard is bare. Time to rebuild.
The Warriors will wind up with hopefully the number 11 pick.
I think the only way they improve on that is of course the lottery ping-pong balls top 3 or if they lose out the rest of the season and a couple of the bottom five in the east go on massive winning streaks.
I think Milwaukee has 27 wins and another team does also…, the Bulls. The Warriors at 32.
Basically lose the remaining 15 games and hope for the best. Number 8 or 9 pick would be sweet in June.
Gary, the way it works is that the 11th-14th teams have a (small) shot at the top 4 picks, but not the 5-10 picks.
If they finish 11th, the odds of their pick postion:
#1: 2.0%
#2: 2.2%
#3: 2.4%
#4: 2.8%
#5-#10: 0%
#11: 77.6%
#12: 13.5%
#13: 0.5%
#14: <0.1%
Long story short, there is a 90% chance they would pick #11 or #12.
The read on this year's draft: very strong 1-14, dropping precipitously afterward (like last year). That's why finishing 11th, not 17th is important.
Warriors reportedly have interest in Nate Ament if he drops a few spaces, otherwise look for Karim Lopez or Braylon Mullins.
You didn’t read what I wrote. If Milwaukee and Chicago go on a winning streak they’ll have more wins than the Warriors. That means maybe 8 or 9 or 10 doesn’t it?
Gary, you are absolutely right, apologies! (Actually I did read what you wrote, but misunderstood it.)
Draft position relates to in-season record, and has nothing to do with whether a team survives to make the play-in. The Warriors could indeed pick 8/9 if Milwaukee and/or Chicago win more regular season games.
Typical aristotle deflecting and selective reading until called out.
Part 2:
But the principle that GSW can’t get any pick from #5 to their finishing position — in this case, 9th instead of, in the previous example, 11th — remains true. So, finishing 9th:
#1 : 4.5%
#2: 4.8%
#3: 5.2%
#4: 5.7%
#5 – #8: 0%
#9: 50.7%
#10 – #12: 29.1% (12 is lowest possible)
In the case the Warriors finish with the 8th worst record:
#1 : 6.0%
#2: 6.3%
#3: 6.7%
#4: 7.2%
#5 – #7: 0%
#8: 34.5%
#9: 32.1%
#10: 6.7%
#11: <0.1% (lowest possible)
Correct.
Also, they made the lotto for the top four now instead of three? I guess I’m behind in the news. Thanks for the info.
Yeah, it’s top 4, not 3 (0r 5). I get lost also.