The Golden State Warriors will be especially shorthanded in the backcourt for an upcoming baseball set with the New Orleans Pelicans. De'Anthony Melton will join Stephen Curry on the sidelines on Tuesday and Wednesday at Chase Center, out against the Pelicans due to right facet inflammation in his back.
Andrew Wiggins is listed as questionable to play on Tuesday with a low back strain. Brandin Podziemski is the only other player on Golden State's injury report, listed as available versus the Pelicans while still adjusting to wearing a protective mask for his broken nose.
Though Steve Kerr stressed on Monday that Golden State is being “careful” with Melton, another flare up of his longstanding back issues is concerning nonetheless. He missed the Dubs' preseason tilt with the Los Angeles Lakers in Las Vegas due to mid-back tightness, and played just 38 games for the Philadelphia 76ers last season while managing a lumbar spine injury—the only reason a player of Melton's (healthy) caliber was available in free agency for a one-year deal worth the mid-level exception.
How will Steve Kerr manage Warriors' rotation without Steph Curry, De'Anthony Melton?
Curry's absence is the headliner for Golden State, but don't discount the impact of Melton's. Both of them sitting out for the Pelicans' stay in the Bay leaves Brandin Podziemski as Golden State's lone guard equipped to handle floor-general duties. Draymond Green will certainly do even more ball-handling with Curry and Melton out, while Kyle Anderson—who quietly played just four first-half minutes in Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers—is also likely to sop up additional playmaking opportunities.
Wiggins being ruled out against the Pelicans would be an especially damning development for the Dubs without Curry and Melton. He turned back the clock to early-career alpha dog status late against the Clippers, running high pick-and-roll and dribble hand-off actions to consistent success as Curry was in the locker room nursing his tender left ankle ankle. A heavier scoring burden would fall on Jonathan Kuminga if Wiggins proves unable to play, affording the third-year forward some much-needed additional reps as an on-ball creator while playing a majority of his minutes at small forward for the first time in his career.
What's clear regardless of Wiggins' status is that consecutive matchups with New Orleans down Curry and Melton stand to prove just how valuable Golden State's one-through-12 depth really is. Much less certain is who would be best served starting on Tuesday and Wednesday now that Kerr's roster of planned rotation players is filled with wings, forwards and bigs almost exclusively.
“I don't know who I'm gonna start tomorrow,” he said on Monday, per Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Buddy Hield is much closer to a wing than a point guard, and Gary Payton II is much closer to a big than a wing. But it's not like deploying a 10-man rotation featuring nine non-guards will provide Golden State the size and athleticism you'd expect from most teams under similar injury-related duress. The Dubs, unfortunately, can't count on winning the paint battle and owning the glass without Curry and Melton.
The good news is that it's no given New Orleans will dominate the interior, either. Rookie Yves Missi is the Pelicans' only center-sized big, and journeyman Daniel Theis has been starting in the middle for coach Willie Green with Trey Murphy III sidelined by injury. Coming into 2024-25 planning to fully embrace small-ball in the starting five, Trey Murphy III's injury has forced New Orleans to deploy more traditional lineups. DeJounte Murray recently joining Murphy on the injured list leaves the Pelicans without what seemed like game-changing positional length before the season, too.
Keep a close eye on Kerr's rotation and lineups on Tuesday and Wednesday. The injury bug is bound to bite more across the 82-game grind, and these games will serve as a stiff initial litmus test for the new-look Dubs sans Curry.
Golden State and New Orleans tipoff from Chase Center on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. (PT).
