The Golden State Warriors will look drastically different Saturday night against the Brooklyn Nets. There’ll be a few new players potentially getting into the rotation in this game due to various injuries. The biggest names fans won’t see on the floor are guard Stephen Curry and forward Draymond Green.
Curry suffered a groin strain and his timeline for return is unknown, but he’ll miss Saturday’s game without question. The Warriors have a back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday as well, so it’s likely the All-Star guard will miss those two games also. Curry currently leads the NBA in scoring at 29.5 points per game, ahead of Joel Embiid (28.8), Kemba Walker (28.3), Zach LaVine (27.4) and teammate Kevin Durant (26.8).
As for Green, he’s battling both foot and ankle injuries and missed the Warriors’ last game against the Milwaukee Bucks while playing 14 minutes the game before. On the season, Draymond has taken a backseat from a scoring perspective, even more than in year’s past. Fortunately, he’s played well in a variety of other ways, posting averages of 7.6 points, 7.9 assists and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Let’s take a look at the Warriors’ projected starting lineup and roster for this game against the Nets.
Warriors Projected Roster & Starting Lineup vs. Nets
*Notates expected starter
C: Damian Jones*, Kevon Looney
PF: Jordan Bell*, Alfonzo McKinnie, Jonas Jerebko
SF: Kevin Durant*, Andre Iguodala, Marcus Derrickson
SG: Klay Thompson*, Jacob Evans, Damion Lee
PG: Quinn Cook*
Bell started last game for the Warriors in place of Green but scored just four points with five rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes. He did pick up four fouls, but Looney (21 minutes), McKinnie (20) and Jerebko (16) all ate into his playing time a bit. He should still see quite a bit of work in this game, but if one of the other players capable of playing power forward/center gets hot, there’s a chance it impacts him.
With Quinn Cook as one of the only pure point guards, he’ll likely receive heavy minutes as well. It’s safe to expect Durant, Iguodala and a few other names to potentially cover ball-handling duties when Cook is off the floor.
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Warriors Roster & Starting Lineup vs. Nets Without Stephen Curry