SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors have a new starting lineup, at least temporarily.
With Steph Curry sidelined with a sprained right ankle, Golden State is turning the offense over to veteran point guard Chris Paul. In an additional wrinkle, the Warriors removed Andrew Wiggins from the starting lineup, replacing him with rookie center Trayce Jackson-Davis. That gives Golden State a starting-five of Paul, Jackson-Davis, Brandin Podziemski, Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green.
“We’ll lean on certain actions that Chris likes to run,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Look at some different lineups as well. I’m kind of looking at is as: while Steph is out, we’ve got to figure out what do we have to do to win tonight? And we’ll worry about the next game then. But within that, we’ll have a lot of decisions to make. Who’s going to play off the bench — it’s hard to script it, because we don’t know how the game’s going to go. If we need some shooting, we’ll put our shooters out there. If we need more rim protection, we can go back to Loon. There’s minutes to be had, but it’s really dependent on how the game’s going.”
Jackson-Davis sprained his ankle on Thursday night and was initially listed as questionable, but will play through the injury. He has impressed recently as a lob threat and rim protector. He and Paul have developed a strong rapport, with the point guard finding him either on alley-oop dishes or pocket passes when he rolls to the basket.
Wiggins has started the past two games after returning from an absence caused by an unspecified personal matter, but only played 15 and 14 minutes. He’s averaging a career-low 12.5 points and 26.7 minutes per game in the first year of a 4-year, $109 million contract.
The non-Curry starters should be an athletic, defensive-minded combination. Green, Kuminga, and Jackson-Davis are three of Golden State’s best and most switchable defenders. The question may be if the group can muster up enough outside shooting.
The new starting five gives Golden State a bench unit of Wiggins, Klay Thompson, Moses Moody, Kevon Looney and Lester Quinones. Gary Payton II would normally slot into that group as well, but he’s out with general illness. Dario Saric, who’s been out of the rotation, could see more time. His minutes got trimmed because of a brutal shooting slump, but chemistry with Paul could prove helpful.
Golden State’s new rotation is subject to change and will naturally fluctuate. It also is probably ephemeral. Because the Warriors got good news on Curry’s MRI, he could return to the court as soon as Wednesday. If that’s the case, everything will probably revert back to normal, as that group has gone 14-5 since Jan. 30 — the best record in the NBA in that span.
