The Golden State Warriors received bad news regarding one of their most important players. The Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported that Warriors star forward Jonathan Kuminga’s timetable to return from his ankle injury has been elongated to potentially after the All-Star break (h/t Bleacher Report’s Zach Bachar):
“According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, the Golden State Warriors forward ‘remains weeks away’ from a return as his ankle is still wrapped and he hasn’t advanced to any ‘real court work.’ Slater noted that Kuminga ‘could’ come back after the All-Star break,” Bachar wrote.
Warriors: Kuminga’s original return date was early Feb.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo native went down with a sprained ankle in pregame warmups before the Warriors’ matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies on Jan. 4. He played in that game, but has been out since their following contest on Jan. 5 against the Sacramento Kings.
Kuminga was initially expected to return three weeks after he first was sidelined. That time frame has already elapsed, and another three-plus weeks have now been added to that.
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Warriors likely to play young stars more without Kuminga
This is about as inopportune a time for the Warriors to be without their third-leading scorer. The 22-year-old has put up career-highs of 16.8 points and five rebounds per game for Golden State this season. His aggression in driving to the rack and actively looking for his own shot will be missed on a Warriors team that is trying to overcome a tremendous midseason slump. In his stead, Gui Santos, Moses Moody, and Kyle Anderson figure to absorb much of his time.
