As their win column continues to shrink, the Golden State Warriors injury report continues to grow. Through 16 games of the NBA season, the Warriors have had 10 different players miss multiple games due to injury, with Draymond Green being the latest.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported, the three-time All-Star has been ruled out against the Utah Jazz with a sore heel for the second-straight game, leaving Golden State with only eight healthy players in the final game of a four-game road trip. This will be Green’s seventh missed game of the season, as he missed five games earlier with a finger injury.
Draymond Green will not play in Utah tonight. Second straight missed game with a sore right heel.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 22, 2019
The Warriors lead the NBA in games missed due to injury by a hefty amount, but Steve Kerr kept a relatively positive approach to Green’s injury on Friday during the team’s shootaround session in Utah.
Kerr is hopeful the former Defensive Player of the Year will return to the Golden State’s thin lineup on Monday against Oklahoma City.
“The expectation is he will be able to play,” Kerr told reporters in Utah. “To have two days off— the next two days is really important. Rather than chase our tail with this one, we’d rather just take tonight off— that will have given him five straight days by the time we play.”
Here’s a Steve Kerr update on Draymond Green. Said the heel issue isn’t a major concern, expects him to be back for homestand starting Monday. pic.twitter.com/qE7GJBtgVO
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 22, 2019
The injury comes with bad timing with Green coming off one of his strongest games of the 2019 campaign; the Michigan State product had a near triple-double with eight points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in the Warriors 114-95 win in Memphis. Green told reporters after the game that the team was starting to jell.
Kerr will hopefully get not only Green back soon, but maybe Kevon Looney, who’s been practicing with the team’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors. Kerr said he’s scheduled to speak with team doctors soon to get an update on Looney, Jacob Evans, and Damion Lee.
The Dubs squared off against Luka Doncic, and the Dallas Mavericks, with only eight healthy players, and it resulted in the franchise’s worst loss since 1973. The Warriors will now try to pace Donovan Mitchell and the 9-5 Utah Jazz with rookies Ky Bowman and Eric Paschall leading the way.