The Golden State Warriors are already among the thinnest, most injury-depleted teams in the league, just days into the regular seasons, and the situation got even worse on Saturday as the team announced it will be without starting center Kevon Looney for its upcoming two-game road trip. 

Looney played just 10 minutes in the Warriors' season-opening loss to the Clippers, and it was thought to be your run-of-the-mill hamstring tightness that sent him to the locker room late in the first quarter for good. Turns out, Looney is dealing with what the teams is calling a "neuropathic condition," which is believed to be the root cause of his hamstring issues. 

As you can see in the above tweet, the Warriors will be at Oklahoma City on Sunday and New Orleans on Monday on this two-game trip. After playing just one game through the first five days of the season, Golden State will play fives games this coming week, including the back-to-back without Looney, who could be out for longer than two games depending on what this "investigation" turns up. Per Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said this neuropathic condition is something that has been present in Looney's body for a "couple years." 

Things are getting dire for the Warriors pretty quickly. Without Looney and Willie Cauley-Stein (ankle; is reportedly progressing nicely), the Warriors will likely be forced to start Omari Spellman and Marquese Chriss at the four and five spots. Neither Chriss nor Spellman is a center by trade; they're both power forwards. But suddenly they're being asked to anchor a Golden State defense that is on its last legs as it is. 

There should be at least some help on the way. Again, Cauley-Stein could be back within the next few weeks, if not sooner, and Alec Burks' return is on the horizon, too. Stephen Curry talked about the increased urgency of the Warriors' first 20 games, and he's right. The West is unrelenting. Get off to a bad start, and you're going to have a hard time fighting your way way back into the playoffs. The Warriors will hope for the best with Looney, because if for some reason he ends up missing significant time, this uphill playoff battle might just become too steep to climb.