Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski will miss his fourth straight game on Saturday, March 15, against the New York Knicks.
Podziemski remains out, per the NBA official injury report, with bilateral lower back strain.
Podziemski suffered a back injury in the opening minute of their come-from-behind 121-119 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, March 6. The sophomore guard went straight to the locker room and did not return.
At the time, Golden State coach Steve Kerr said Podziemski’s injury “doesn’t appear to be serious” and he’s day-to-day. But four straight missed games do sound the injury is serious.
It’s a crushing blow to the second-year guard who was playing well before the injury.
Podziemski has the third-highest plus-minus in the Warriors’ roster at plus-170 behind their top stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green (+230), per Statmuse. Since he became a full-time starter next to Curry in the backcourt in eight games before his ill-timed injury in Brooklyn, Podziemski averaged 14.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals.
Podziemski is also a staple of the non-Curry Warriors lineup alongside their trade deadline acquisition Jimmy Butler.
In his absence, Gary Payton II stepped up. The veteran guard averaged 13.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 23.9 minutes over the Warriors’ last three games. Payton is shooting 65.2% overall and 70% from the 3-point line during this span.
Jonathan Kuminga is Back
The Warriors have the luxury to be patient with Podziemski as Jonathan Kuminga returned after his 32-game absence due to a significant ankle sprain.
Though under minutes restriction, Kuminga scored 18 points in 20 minutes off the bench in the Warriors’ 130-104 rout of the Sacramento Kings at home on Thursday, March 13.
It was the Warriors’ sixth straight win and 12th in their last 14 games to move 10 games above .500 and remain sixth in the loaded Western Conference.
Kuminga also had three rebounds, one assist and a steal. Most importantly, the Warriors outscored the Kings by eight points when he was on the floor.
“I thought he played really hard, and what you notice is just the different dimension he gives us with his explosion to the rim,” Kerr told reporters after Kuminga’s impressive game in his return. “The way teams are playing Steph [Curry], everybody now is just top-locking him. It makes sense because you’re trying to take away Steph, but then you don’t have help in certain areas.
“So if you have a guy like JK who can attack and score at the rim, it’s a huge help. Just really happy for him. He’s put a lot of work in … and it took him quite a while to get to this point. There was a lot of hard work that went into it and I’m proud of him.”
Steph Curry Reaches 4K 3-Point Milestone
Curry finally reached the unprecedented 4,000 3-point milestone. But it took him until the third quarter as the Kings defense focused on him.
Curry had a quiet night, scoring only 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting and 2-of-6 3-pointers. But his five straight points in the third quarter, including his 4,000th 3-point shot, restored order for the Warriors after the Kings cut their 23-point lead to only four before Curry’s flurry.
“It was a weird night because we all knew I was two away,” Curry told reporters after the win. “Made the first one in the first quarter off a transition, [Jonathan Kuminga] made a great pass. Sacramento was playing that gimmicky defense all game where they were literally face-guarding me, top-locking, and nothing was clean about it.”
But that didn’t stop Curry from achieving the milestone in front of his family and the Warriors fans, something that he missed when he passed Ray Allen’s record of 2,973 made 3-pointers on Dec. 14, 2021, at Madison Square Garden to become the all-time NBA leader in 3-point shots.
