Draymond Green to Return Tonight vs Wizards
Over two long months later, the Warriors will finally having starting forward and defensive lynchpin Draymond Green back on the floor. Green suffered a calf injury in early January and was sidelined after the injury was discovered to be rooted by an issue with a disc in his lower back. There has not been a lot of information on Green’s timetable until the sudden announcement, but he was confirmed by the Dubs’ public relations team to be active for the game:
Green spoked to the media at practice this morning, saying that he was excited to get back to playing with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson together. This will be the first time since the 2019 Finals that Green, Curry, and Thompson have shared the floor together in meaningful minutes - not including the 7 seconds Green suited up for in Klay’s return game.
Dray is obviously an incredibly important piece of this lineup, having “built this thing from ground zero” as he said. Although the elevated play of guys like Jordan Poole and a recent return to form against Klay Thompson (good for a scorching 38 points over the weekend against the Milwaukee Bucks of all teams) has given the team some life after a recent slide, the Warriors need Green so Steph Curry can get back to his scoring ways instead of having to be the primary playmaker.
There’s also the matter of the team defense. The Warriors have a 111.7 defensive rating without Green this season. For reference, that would rank at 18th across the entire league. With Green, however, that number jumps up to 101.9, which would rank far ahead of any other team. The Dubs are still first with a 106.0 defensive rating, but the Phoenix Suns are right behind them at 106.1. Green’s return should help shore up a lot of the mistakes made on that end.
Green has missed 31 games this season, and the Warriors were a paltry 18-16 in that span. While his absence overlapped with Klay Thompson’s increase in self-created volume upon his return, the back end of Steph Curry’s slump, and slumps from a few other players including Andrew Wiggins and pre-heater Jordan Poole. This doesn’t fall solely on Draymond being missing, but some of it certainly wouldn’t have been as noticeable if he had been playing.
As the end of the regular season approaches, the Warriors have the 12th hardest remaining strength of schedule according to Power Rankings Guru and are currently a half-game back on the Memphis Grizzlies for 2nd in the Western Conference. Barring some major shifts in the next month and a half or so, Golden State would be positioned to face the Denver Nuggets in the first round - possibly their worst possible first round matchup in terms of personnel. If they move up to 2nd in the remaining time, they would instead play the winner of the Wolves-Clippers play-in game, who would end up as the 7th seed. Either of those teams are arguably better matchups, but really, the Warriors should have a relatively okay road to the Conference Finals, where the real test in presumably Phoenix will await.
Ensuring Draymond’s continued health upon return will be key to anything the Warriors want to accomplish in the playoffs, so managing his minutes to ensure there isn’t more issues will be key over the next few games. It will also give more minutes to prove rotation guys are ready. Top to bottom though, there aren’t many teams who can match up with a full-strength Warriors squad, and if Green can stay healthy, another Finals appearance - and maybe even a ring - are certainly in the cards.
(Photo credit: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)