Warriors guards Stephen Curry (left peroneal strain) and De’Anthony Melton (strained lower back) have been ruled out for Saturday’s contest against Houston, the team announced today (via Twitter), and Melton will remain sidelined for at least two games beyond that before being reevaluated a week from now.
However, the injury news from Golden State isn’t all bad. As Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets, Curry has been cleared to participate in parts of Friday night’s practice and will be reevaluated on Sunday, so it’s possible he could return to action as soon as Monday vs. Washington.
Additionally, forward Andrew Wiggins is on track to suit up on Saturday after missing two games due to a low back strain. He’ll be immediately reinserted into the starting lineup upon returning, according to head coach Steve Kerr (Twitter link via Slater).
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- After missing the first five games of his rookie season, Raptors first-round pick Ja’Kobe Walter was cleared to make his NBA debut on Friday vs. the Lakers, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Elsewhere on the Raptors injury front, forward Scottie Barnes (orbital fracture) has a doctor’s appointment on Monday, which could help determine the treatment plan for his injury, while big man Kelly Olynyk (back/lumbar strain) is still at least a “couple more weeks” away from playing, per head coach Darko Rajakovic (Twitter links via Lewenberg). Guard Immanuel Quickley (pelvic contusion) isn’t far off from returning, but he remains out on Friday and will likely miss Saturday’s game vs. Sacramento too, tweets Lewenberg.
- Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson has been diagnosed with left plantar fasciitis and will be reevaluated in a week, the team announced today (via Twitter). Collin Sexton, who figures to play an increased role with Clarkson out, suffered a left fourth finger distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint avulsion fracture on Thursday but will attempt to play through the injury, according to the Jazz.
- Hornets center Mark Williams is doing a “good amount of individual work,” per head coach Charles Lee, but he hasn’t been cleared for full team drills or scrimmages yet, writes Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer. Williams has yet to play this season due to a sprained tendon in his left foot.
- Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who is recovering from offseason surgeries on both feet, has experienced some “minor discomfort,” but that’s a normal part of the recovery process, head coach J.J. Redick told reporters on Friday (Twitter link via Jovan Buha of The Athletic). Redick added that Vanderbilt is “progressing” but that his return isn’t imminent. “We’ll have another update in a week or so,” he said.
Tomorrow starts the road trip that will show us all what Warriors we have this year. Houston – Washington – Boston – Cleveland – OKC. If they win more than 2 of those, they are likely a top 6/playoff team. If they win 3-5 then the skies the limit with this unit, as-is, trade nobody, 65+ wins incoming…
Its best to get the toughest teams out of the way early in the season.
He said after the Warriors have played Portland, Utah, Clippers, and injured Pelicans looking at playing Houston and the mf Wizards.
I truly don’t understand the logic you people operate on.
I know the Warriors play in Boston next Wednesday, that’ll be a big test and cleveland Friday, OKC Sunday both playing well right now too. After those games we’ll see where we’re at.
But yes 4-1 against the teams the Warriors have played is nothing to hold your head high about. That’s an expectation if you think you’re a playoff team. Should have been 5-0 to be honest. Clippers are sort of down right now but the hero Buddy Hield went cold as a starter.
You said right there…about Hield, if he goes cold warriors lose.
Teams like OKC/BOS will focus on shutting him down or make him work extra hard. I don’t see GSW winning against teams that have a few defenders that can work against their 3-shooters
Good comment. I hope you’re not right. The Warriors may start slow as they have even against the crummy teams, but hopefully they make adjustments and come out ahead. ESPN game on Wednesday so everyone can catch it. I hope they don’t embarrass us LOL
Lmao yeah Davey….that first road trip of the season or possibly the next 77 games. Anyways, I’m looking forward to seeing the raptors coach presser after L.A had a 41-13 free throw discrepancy in a 6 point win in Toronto. Points in the paint, Raps 68 Fakeshow 58 lol. That’s one way of snapping a losing streak.
I saw that stat and had to laugh they needed the Refs to beat a team not playing their best players.
I watched the presser and was disappointed. Darko didn’t bite at all.
Protection of the Fakers has gone full throttle this year. AD gets breathed on and he’s off to the free throw line. Same with LeFlop. But neither gets called for more than 1 or 2 PFs in a game themselves. Rigged.
Sports is absolutely 100% rigged in my opinion. Football, baseball, basketball… All about the dollar. Players have admitted as much. Watch Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner talk about it on YouTube.
Essentially they say if you want to beat the preferred team, you have to play well enough to beat them by 20 in order to beat them by 5. That’s what it takes to overcome the powers that be.
I don’t think it’s a conspiracy theory at all. I believe it.
The only reason I disagree with you is sports betting and how large it has become. All it would take is one whistleblower to prove that the NBA as a league has impacted the results of games that were bet on and the league would be dead in a matter of hours.
I can’t imagine that guys like Angel Hernandez in the MLB, who were publicly shamed at all hours of the day for his poor performance would hold a secret like that in exchange $300,000 a year maximum. Especially when spilling the beans stands to be a much more lucrative venture.
That being said, the Lakers seem to find the free throw line a lot and that trend has so far carried over to this year. Could be style of play. Could be the refs trying to keep Lakers game competitive. After looking at the stats and watching some of those games back it’s very hard to tell which isn’t comforting.
I would say your points are definitely right on. Somehow what you say is correct, plus I think there is some kind of fix in the whole thing. Not sure how it all works lol.