Warriors to rest Draymond Green for 2 games
Stephen Curry has taken time off to rest his bruised shin. Klay Thompson sat out two contests for back and ankle injuries.
Now it's Draymond Green's turn to heal up.
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle reports the Warriors plan to sideline Green for their next two contests - that is, if they can convince him to sit.
The Warriors face the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, before returning home to host the Los Angeles Lakers on the second leg of the back-to-back set. The Nuggets and Lakers are a combined 33 games below .500, and the Warriors are 5-0 against them with an average margin of victory of 20.2 points this season.
Long story short: The 36-2 Warriors can afford to give Green some time off, especially since they have a three-game road trip that includes stops at Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago (three teams that have given them trouble this year) starting Saturday.
Green - who leads the Warriors in minutes played - has followed up a breakout campaign by emerging as another star player for the reigning champions. He leads the league in triple-doubles, has more assists than LeBron James and more rebounds than Anthony Davis, and is the versatile fulcrum that makes the Warriors one of the league's stingiest defenses.
The 25-year-old Green is averaging 15.6 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists in 34.9 minutes per game. The Warriors are 31.1 points per 100 possessions better when he's on the court.
Marreese Speights will likely draw the starts in Green's absence.