From the opening tip of the 2019-20 season, the Golden State Warriors have struggled mightily. While already a man down after losing Klay Thompson for what is likely the entire season after he tore his ACL in last year's Finals, they were at least expected to be competitive with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and D'Angelo Russell.
A 2-5 start to the season is a tough pill to swallow, but couple that with losing Curry for at least three months after the star guard suffered a broken hand during the Warriors loss to the Phoenix Suns, and it's downright unbearable.
The bad news train doesn't seem to be slowing down for Golden State either. After telling reporters he hurt his finger during a game against the San Antonio Spurs last week -- which was later confirmed as a sprained left finger by ESPN's Nick Friedell -- Green missed the Warriors' last two games. Now, Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported that Green won't travel with Golden State on its upcoming three-game road trip due to his injury.
When Green originally suffered the injury, he didn't seem too concerned about missing a significant amount of time.
"I hurt my finger," Green said via ESPN. "Ligament action. But it is what it is. It's pretty sore. I couldn't grip the ball the whole entire [game], probably since the second quarter, which is why I was making a lot of one-handed, right-handed passes and dribbling left with my right hand. I couldn't really grip the ball, so we'll see. Hopefully it will calm down a little bit overnight, but who knows?"
After Green's injury was announced, Steve Kerr told reporters the team will play it conservative with his minutes when he's back to 100 percent.
"The one thing we won't do is run [Green] into the ground," Kerr said. "We have to maintain a good schedule with Draymond minutes-wise and games-wise. If he's banged up, we should make sure we take care of him."
That's especially true now that Curry will be out for multiple months. Russell has also missed the last two games with an ankle injury, and won't play in the Warriors game against the Houston Rockets Wednesday night, as reported by Slater.
The Warriors have already made it very clear that tanking is out of the question this season, even after losing Curry for a considerable amount of time, but with the latest injuries to Green and Russell, one has to wonder where the Warriors go from here.
