The single best word to sum up the first 17 games of the Golden State Warriors season is simple: injury. For an example of how bad the injury bug has been, look to their past road trip where the team only had eight healthy players against both Dallas and Utah.
Golden State has a hefty lead over the rest of the NBA when it comes to games missed due to injury, but help could finally be on the way.
Draymond Green (heel) and Kevon Looney (neuropathic condition) could be returning to the Golden State lineup sooner rather than later. Both big men returned to practice on Sunday which should come as a breath of fresh air for Steve Kerr’s struggling club.
Green is listed questionable on the injury report for the Warriors upcoming game against Oklahoma City, while Looney is ruled out for the next two games, but the hope is he can return for the upcoming road trip according to Looney himself. Looney told reporters at practice that he wants to get a couple more practices in for rhythm and conditioning purposes.
Looney missed all but 10-minutes of the Warriors season so far after signing a three-year, $15 million contract over the offseason. Looney’s steadily improved every year since being drafted by Golden State out of UCLA in 2015, but this year with the departures of Andrew Bogut and DeMarcus Cousins, Looney was in line to see an increased role.
Green missed the past two games with a sore heel, that’s limited not only the Warriors frontline, but their backcourt as well. Without D’Angelo Russell, Kerr started Green as his point guard on the first two games of the road trip, and it worked. The Warriors won their first game in two-weeks behind a near triple-double from Green in Memphis.
Green’s return should give the Warriors a boost across the board, but especially when it comes to leadership. Golden State’s roster is very young and primarily filled with inexperienced players when Green isn’t available.
This Warriors season has turned into being more about the future than the present, but with so few healthy players available, it has been hard to evaluate. With Green and Looney returning, Golden State’s front office can see a better picture of what the Warriors could look in the future in the future.
