OAKLAND–Three 6-foot-7 point guards and a 7-foot tall shooting guard.
That’s the rotation Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr will have at his disposal on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, as both Steph Curry and Klay Thompson will sit.
With Curry sidelined due to a sprained ankle he suffered at Wednesday’s shootaround, and Thompson taking his first scheduled rest of the season, Kerr plans on using Shaun Livingston, Patrick McCaw and even Draymond Green at point guard while slipping 7-foot forward Kevin Durant into game as an off guard.
“(Omri) Casspi’s a guard, (Kevin) Durant’s a guard, I mean the chances of playing small tonight are kind of slim,” Kerr said. “We would have to have all of our small guys on the floor at once so maybe we’ll play a little bit bigger. Maybe we’ll play Jordan Bell and Looney at the four. That will be determined by the game itself. I’m not worried about the imbalance with guards and things because we’ve got a lot of versatility.”
Though Durant is listed at 6-foot-9 on the Warriors’ roster, he admitted last summer that he’s actually 7-feet tall, and his league-leading block numbers indicate he’s one of the best defensive bigs in the game. In reality, Durant can play every position on the floor, and with Curry and Thompson out, the Warriors will need him to provide a spark from beyond the arc against the Clippers.
Kerr said he hadn’t settled on whether Livingston or McCaw would start at point guard, but the Warriors’ fourth-year head coach indicated he plans to have Green handle the point at various junctures of Wednesday’s contest. Green leads the Warriors with 7.7 assists per game, so he’s certainly capable of leading the offense up the floor.
“Like you said, Andre, I mean, Draymond can play point forward for us for stretches of the game,” Kerr said. “He’s our leading assist guy so he’s used to handling the ball. We’ll find the right combinations.”
After Curry was injured on Wednesday morning, Kerr said he called to check on the availability of Quinn Cook, a guard on a two-way contract who’s currently playing at a G-League showcase in Toronto. Though having Cook would have given the Warriors a break, Kerr didn’t appear concerned with the fact he’ll have to use bigger lineups.
As for the health of Curry, the injury to his right ankle doesn’t sound serious. Curry missed 11 games in December and re-aggravated the same ankle on Wednesday, but Golden State has the luxury of making sure its star is completely healthy before he returns to action.
“I didn’t see anything,” Kerr said. “He (Curry) was going through his normal shootaround and his usual gameday routine with Q (Bruce Fraser) and he just rolled his ankle and it was kind of a fluke. It kind of caught us off guard but obviously I had told Klay yesterday that he would have the day off and he needs it. He’s played every game.”