SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Warriors and Kings will be without several starters for Wednesday night’s matchup in Sacramento with Stephen Curry being ruled out for Golden State, and Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine sidelined for the Kings.
Golden State’s Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler III are questionable, though Butler is pushing to play despite some lower back soreness, sources told ESPN.
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Curry is dealing with a cold he said is worsening. He stayed in San Francisco. Green, who has logged a lot of minutes at center early in the season, has a right rib contusion. Butler left in the first half of the Warriors’ win over the Suns on Tuesday night and there is serious skepticism about his status against the Kings, but he is attempting to get the green light after round-the-clock treatment.
For the Kings, Sabonis is dealing with a rib injury he appeared to sustain Monday night against the Denver Nuggets. LaVine is nursing a back issue.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr called his team’s trio “wiped out” after a condensed schedule in the opening month, including three back-to-backs. Eight of the team’s next nine games are on the road.
“When all is said and done, of our first 15 games, I think they’ll come in 26 days in 10 different cities,” Kerr said. “To ask our players to sprint — full court pressure, either dealing with it or applying it, racing out to the 3-point line, covering 3-point shooters and then playing at this tempo — is dramatically different from what it was 20 years ago.”
Butler and Green are 35. Curry is 37. Al Horford, the team’s veteran center who won’t play both sides of any of its 15 back-to-backs this season, is 39. The Warriors have been transparent about performance staff leader Rick Celebrini’s plan to spot rest their older stars in a handful of games this season.
“We all know what the real answer [to load management] is, and that is to shorten the season,” Kerr said with an eye of skepticism. “Good luck.”
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