The Bay Area fans can quite catch a break! Following the Christmas Day loss against the LA Lakers, they have a major setback involving the Golden State Warriors‘ crucial assets. More importantly, the team already has a 0-2 record against the LA Clippers, and this latest update involving Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Gary Payton II might push it down to a 0-3 record in a blink.

Firstly, as per Anthony Slater, Stephen Curry won’t participate in the Friday night encounter against the Clippers, managing his knee tendinitis. You might have noticed the superstar played more than his usual minutes in the Christmas Day clash. Steph’s average minutes on the court have dropped drastically in the last four seasons to 31.2 mpg and he played 36 minutes last night.

Notably, Coach Steve Kerr hinted at Steph’s uncertain availability right after the loss. He described the superstar’s extended minutes as a “hard” stretch, highlighting the physical toll it would have taken on him. While the statement irked doubts last night, Slater confirmed it tonight. Moreover, considering his knee injury, it’s a decision to bench the veteran for the back-to-back encounter. Following the Clips, the Dubs take on the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

On the other hand, the team also has two concerning updates. Slater reported that the team has listed Draymond Green as Questionable for the Clippers game. The reason isn’t disclosed yet. And Gary Payton II, who already missed the game against the Pacers with a calf injury, seemed to have aggravated it against the Lakers. The latest MRI deducted a mild strain, and the team announced that he would miss at least a week.

Will Stephen Curry continue to miss one of the back-to-back games?

One of the things that was debated a lot was Joel Embiid‘s statement on not playing back-to-back games anymore in his career. It was the aftermath of his knee injury. Fairly reasonable. Many criticized the Cameroonian star for being too fragile with his body but things began to prove that other franchise players also might face this situation.

Heading into the 2024-25 season, Steve Kerr formulated a strategy to deploy his veteran ballers, Green and Steph, under minutes-restriction. We may notice Curry missing major chuck of each quarter, watching the game from the sidelines. And the knee tendinitis injury has made it even worse. It has forced Coach Kerr to bench him for the back-to-back games.

On the other hand, Draymond Green also faced a similar fate. Earlier this month, the power forward had a serious injury concern after suffering calf tightness. It raised an alarming situation, as talks about a season-ending injury were looming in the air. Nevertheless, he only missed two games and was cleared to play. Upon his return, Kerr made an interesting choice of deploying the star off the bench. Moreover, there were talks about retaining the decision for the rest of the season. Fortunately, it was scraped. So, what can we expect from Kerr going forward? Let us know in the comments.