The injury problems continue to mount for the Golden State Warriors as they have announced that they will be without leading scorer D’Angelo Russell for at least the next two weeks after he picked up a thumb injury.
Russell left Friday evenings game against the Boston Celtics midway through the action. The Warriors went on to lose that particular game 105-100 as their poor start to the new NBA season continued. He left the game after a clash with Daniel Theis during the third period, and the diagnosis was that he had sprained his right thumb.
He left the game with 18 minutes remaining and physio’s checked his thumb on the sidelines before going back into the changing rooms. The Warriors would breathe a sigh of relief; however, as x-rays showed that there was no break so the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
The Warriors man is averaging 24.3 points and 6.7 assists this season, and he even finished the game against the Celtics with 12 points, seven assists and nine turnovers. The MRI on Saturday afternoon showed that the sprain was still severe enough that he will need to miss out on at least the next four games for the Warriors on the road.
Growing Injury List
It is yet another setback for the Warriors as they have already lost Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson for an extended period of time. Curry picked up a broken hand earlier in the campaign, while Thompson tore his anterior cruciate ligament and will likely be out until the post-season, although it looks incredibly unlikely that the Warriors will be playing any part at that point of the season.
Golden State have been further depleted with the losses of Jacob Evans, Alen Smailagic and Kevon Looney, who have all missed the entirety of the season to this point and still have an unclear time frame on when they may return.
Poor Run Of Form
It has been a famous fall from grace for the Warriors after they had made the NBA finals for the past four seasons. They won two of those finals, with their most recent appearance ending in defeat against the Toronto Raptors. The side were once again affected by injuries in that series, as Thompson and Kevin Durant both missed big parts of the defeat. Those days now seem a distant memory for the side, and they can only dream of reaching that point this campaign.
This season has been a big disappointment to this point as they currently sit rock bottom of the Western Conference after winning just twice in their 13 outings this season. Not just that, but they are currently on a six-match losing streak, and this new setback will offer very little enticement that the run will end any time soon.
They will have the chance to return to winning ways on Sunday evening when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans, but punters should be aware that the injuries could play a significant role in the eventual result.
