SAN FRANCISCO — Jonathan Kuminga, who has missed the Warriors’ last 11 games, will miss at least eight more as he recovers from a significantly sprained ankle that will sideline him past the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
Kuminga, 22, suffered the injury on Jan. 4 — in the middle of the best stretch of his career — and hobbled into the trainer’s room. In the three weeks since, he has graduated out of his walking boot and crutches, but still has his right foot wrapped and is expected to begin light on-court individual workouts next week.
The team said Kuminga will be re-evaluated again in two weeks, Feb. 10 — two days after the trade deadline.
“We need JK,” Steve Kerr said after Golden State’s Monday practice. “Obviously, we miss him. But injuries are all part of it. It’s good to know that he’s progressing.”
Draymond Green, who has missed the past four contests, is pacing ahead of Kuminga. He won’t play the team’s three games this week, but will return to practice afterwards. He has calf and back injuries have sidelined him for seven of the team’s last eight games.
Green didn’t practice on Monday, but once he does on Saturday, he’ll be considered day-to-day.
This week, Green will be in street clothes for home games against Utah on Tuesday, Oklahoma City on Wednesday and Phoenix on Friday. The Warriors are hopeful that Curry, who got over the back-to-back hump by playing both legs last week, will be available for both games but will act with the big picture in mind.
With the frontcourt injuries, both Quinten Post and Gui Santos have stepped up into regular roles. That doesn’t mean the absences to Golden State’s second and third most valuable players haven’t stung.
Since Jan. 4, when Kuminga sprained his ankle, the Warriors are 5-7 and own the fourth worst net rating in the NBA. They’ve certainly missed his 16.8 points per game as Golden State struggles to counter defenses that sell out to slow Steph Curry.
In the past 10 games, the Warriors rank 26th in pace, which Kerr attributes to defensive struggles. Golden State has struggled with guard-to-guard screens, overhelping from the corners and staying disciplined to the game plan and recognizing opposing teams’ personnel.
Green should patch up a good amount of that.
“That’s Draymond’s best quality, is his ability to tie a defense together, plug some of the holes that exist,” Kerr said. “We definitely miss that. But that’s not an excuse, we’ve got to do it without him.”
At 22-23, the Warriors sit at 11th place in the Western Conference. Yet because of the cluttered standings, they’re only four games out of fifth place. The team doesn’t obsess over the standings, but they’re certainly aware of their position.
“I bring it up every week and I remind the guys how many teams out there in the history of the NBA have climbed up the ladder after slow starts,” Kerr said. “We played boat on in 2022 for example, they were a .500 team in January. And they flipped it, and found their groove.
I still think our team can find its best self. The best version of ourselves, I think, is ahead of us. So part of the motivation comes from, ‘Hey, we’re not that far away from being a solid five or six seed.’ But, we’ve got to do something about it. We’ve got to get to work.”
Source: Paradise Post
