Warriors reserve center David West fractured his left thumb in Golden State’s 121-100 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday evening, and is expected to be on the shelf for three to six weeks.
On a team with four of the top 20 players in the league, to call the absence of a player averaging 11.5 minutes per game significant would be an overstatement. Still, the loss of West is Golden State’s first significant injury issue of the season, and the veteran’s presence with the second unit will be missed, especially after establishing himself as the team’s best big off the bench in recent months.
When West is on the floor, the Warriors tend to run most of their early second and fourth quarter sets through him at the high post, taking advantage of his stellar passing ability. West is averaging 6.5 assists per 36 minutes, an incredible number for a reserve center. West is also ranked fourth on the team in ESPN’s real-plus minus, a metric that determines the effect of a player’s presence on the rest of the team.
“It’s a big loss,” Steve Kerr said after Wednesday’s game. “David has been fantastic, he’s playing so well.”
While center is the Warriors deepest position based on quantity, the quality of Golden State’s seemingly endless supply of centers is a question mark. Only JaVale McGee has done enough to earn consistent minutes in the rotation, as a rim runner to pair with four parameter oriented players. But McGee is one dimensional and inconsistent, and has seen his time on the floor diminish with the emergence of Zaza Pachulia and West as an effective combination at the five spot.
Luckily the injury is not serious and West will not require sugary. For a couple weeks, however, it will be on one of the Warriors bigs to step up and fill the void.
Second-year center Kevon Looney got some run the fourth quarter of last nights game, and will likely be given every opportunity to fill West’s spot in the rotation during his absence. Looney was excellent at the start of the season but has regressed since then, averaging four less minutes in the month of January.
Looney being given a chance to contribute could actually be seen as a positive consequence of the West injury. Looney has a natural basketball sense and good positional awareness, but seems to still be hampered by two hip surgeries that have him looking slow and lacking the explosiveness to score down low. It’s too early to tell how serious these issues are, or if they will be enough to hold Looney back from being a contributor at the NBA level. An extended run in the coming weeks will give the Warriors a better idea about his potential moving forward.
Andersen Varajao was the other big that Kerr elected to use against OKC, but doesn’t seem at this point to be able to contribute consistently at the NBA level. The same may unfortunately be true for James Michael McAdoo, who despite being a nice surprise last year, has been a disaster almost every time he’s stepped on the floor for the Warriors in 2016.
Finally there is rookie first-round pick Damian Jones, who is still recovering from offseason pec surgery, and probably a little far off from being thrown into the rotation at this point. Jones has been getting consistent run in the D-League, however, and if given a chance, could earn some playing time with the other questionable options.
Increased time for McGee and Looney seems to be the most likely scenario, which means the second-unit’s high-post, backdoor cut offense is going to look a bit different for a few weeks. One of the things that makes Golden State unique is the amount of players they have with gifted passing abilities. West is one of those players, and without him on the floor, don’t be surprised if Golden State’s bench has a harder time scoring with efficiency.