Dr. Nirav Pandya of UCSF and Benioff Children’s Hospital joined Grant Liffmann on Dubs Talk to discuss Steph Curry’s foot injury and the timeline for a potential return.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Warriors will have a noticeable absence in their starting lineup Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs with Steph Curry out due to a sprained ligament in his left foot. But Golden State also will get an added boost when the starters are announced at Chase Center.
Draymond Green is back to being a starter after coming off the bench in his first two games returning from a disc/back injury.
"Because we can play him more minutes, it makes more sense to start him," Steve Kerr said Sunday evening.
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In his return, Green played just over 20 minutes. He upped his minutes' restriction the next game and played a smidge over 22 minutes Wednesday night against the Boston Celtics. With a few days off from game action, Green should play around 28 minutes vs. the Spurs.
Draymond averaged 4.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in those two contests -- a 14-point win and a 22-point loss. Before his injury, not including the seven seconds he played on Jan. 9, Green averaged 8.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists in 33 games as a starter.
Green will be joined by Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney. Poole is listed as the Warriors' starting point guard with Curry out, but Draymond will run the offense a majority of the time. It will be interesting to watch, but the other side of the ball should be even more intriguing.
Sunday night marks the first game that Wiggins has played with Draymond and Klay since he was traded to the Warriors during the 2019-20 season. All three are lockdown defenders when healthy and engaged.
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And all three, along with others, will be needed even more with Steph sidelined.
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"We'll really emphasize our defense," Kerr said. "These last 12 games, that's the challenge. Can we be one of the best defensive teams in the league? There's no reason why we can't, given that Draymond is back and he's our key on that end.
"First time we'll have Draymond, Wiggs, Klay and Looney all together. That's a really good defensive group there with a lot of size and versatility. If we can defend at a high level, we think that will translate to good offense."
That challenge starts against the Spurs, a team that the Warriors lost to with Curry and Co. in December and then beat without the majority of their stars to start off February.
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