The Golden State Warriors have officially ruled out Gui Santos for Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Santos is dealing with left knee soreness and will miss his first game of the NBA season. The Warriors listed Santos as Questionable after his best scoring game of the season against the Denver Nuggets.
NBC Sports reported the following details:
“Santos has unsurprisingly been ruled out after popping up on the injury report hours before the game with left knee tendonitis. Georges Niang and Al Horford are candidates to start are see more minutes with Santos sidelined, though neither are worth streaming consideration in most fantasy leagues.”
The bigger concern here is if this injury continues to impact Santos and forces him to miss more time. Golden State is already missing a handful of noteworthy players, especially former All-Stars Kristaps Porzingis and Jimmy Butler. No date is known for each player’s return yet.
Another issue comes up when the Warriors play back-to-backs and sit out aging players. There will be games where Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Horford are all resting. Santos not being active would hurt the team due to their already limited depth in the loaded Western Conference.
Warriors Starting Lineup Without Gui Santos
The Warriors have utilized Santos as one of the most important players so far due to his age and athleticism. Both Santos and Brandin Podziemski are needed to step up and provide some youth to even out the team’s veteran presence that comes with its own flaws.
Santos has started three games for Golden State this season to show how much faith Kerr has in his talent. Graham Ike is expected to start at center to replace Santos as Draymond moves from center to the more traditional power forward role.
Yaxel Lendeborg is a lock to remain in the starting lineup as the starting small forward. The great start for the Warriors rookie makes his ascension a huge help to overcome some of the bad luck to hit them. Porzingis was originally expected to be the second offensive option behind Curry, but Yaxel has seized that role in his absence.
When To Expect Gui Santos Back For Warriors
The Questionable tag before getting ruled out could be a good sign for Santos. Most terrible injuries will see a team instantly revealing they’ll be out weeks to months. Head coach Steve Kerr should provide a clearer update after tonight’s game with the post-game media press conference.
Santos should not be expected to miss too much time since it was a question if he’d play tonight until 90 minutes before tipoff. The forward could miss a few more games if this lingers since the Warriors like to play it safely with injuries.
However, this is not considered to be as bad as Porzingis, Butler or Moses Moody currently all out indefinitely. Golden State should have Santos back within a few games, and it’s not a crazy thought he’d be back next game. Kerr’s comments will give us a better idea of Santos’ status moving forward.
Warriors Provide Negative Injury Update On Gui Santos