TORONTO — Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins are back, but Draymond Green won’t suit up for Golden State’s game north of the border on Monday night.
Green, 34, will miss his second straight game and sixth overall. He’s listed on the official injury report as out with a left L5-S1 disc injury and an illness. He missed morning shootaround because he was feeling under the weather.
Green also missed the Warriors’ most recent game — against Indiana on the second night of a back-to-back.
“It’s always a concern,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “A couple years ago, the ’22 season, he missed 15-20 games when the back flared up. We just have to stay on top of it.”
Kerr added that he doesn’t think this particular injury is similar to the one that sidelined him then, although the impacted discs on the injury report are the same that were herniated.
Averaging 8.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, Green remains pivotal for the Warriors on both ends of the court. When the team has been at its best this year, his defensive versatility and edge have helped shape its identity.
The eight-win Raptors still don’t pose a significant threat even without Green. Curry is set to return after a one-game absence and Wiggins is available after missing the back-to-back for personal reasons. Still, the Warriors aren’t in a position to take any opponent for granted.
Last week, Green told his teammates in the locker room that he believes they’d lost their soul and edge at some point over their rut. He took responsibility for that shortfall in particular.
“I told them, it’s all my fault,” Green said. “I’ve got to get my edge back. And then we’ll have our edge back. When you have times when you need to address the team, if you can’t address where you’re failing, nobody’s listening to you. So you’ve got to address first where you’re failing. That’s obviously an area that I own. When you own something, own it. And I haven’t. And we’re struggling in it, and I’ve got to be better. And I will be.”
The Warriors enter the Raptors matchup at 19-19, technically in 11th place in the Western Conference. Golden State split the first two games of its current winter-weather road trip, with a win over Detroit and a shorthanded loss to the Pacers.
“Still in the same spot,” Green said after the win over the Pistons. “Trying to figure it out, trying to get back to our winning ways like we were earlier in the year. One win doesn’t change it. So we’re still in the same spot, having to re-figure out who this team is. We kind of lost our edge. When you lose your edge in this league, everything else follows that right away. We’ve been in a crappy spot the last month or so, month and a half. And we’re trying to correct that. One win doesn’t change that.”
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Notable
— Gary Payton II scrimmaged on Sunday in Toronto and went through a workout the day of the Raptors game, Kerr said. He’s nearing a return from a calf strain.
— Brandin Podziemski’s timeline is less clear. He said Sunday that he doesn’t know if he’s close to coming back. The second-year guard, rehabbing an abdominal strain, is running at full speed but not scrimmaging. With head of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini, Podziemski is re-teaching himself how to run properly.
— In an interview with Yahoo Sports, Green said that he, Kerr and Steph Curry are in lockstep in terms of not wanting to mortgage the team’s future for the present.
“Bad teams do that. Bad organizations do that. We’re not neither one,” Green said.
The forward has been consistent about feeling a part of the organization at large and wanting to shepherd the next generation of Warriors basketball.
Asked about the challenges of keeping a dynasty going, Kerr said it’s inevitable for everything to end at some point.
“You want it to last as long as possible and you put every ounce of effort into making that happen as best you can,” Kerr said. “And these runs, they happen because of Michael Jordan and Steph Curry, these once-in-a-generation players. And so, you ride those guys as long as you can, as long as they’re capable. Then you’ve got to move forward and everything changes. I think that’s where we are right now. Steph is still playing at a really high level. The last couple years, we’ve been fighting like crazy and competing to just stay in the game. Last year, 46 wins wasn’t even enough to make the playoffs. So it’s gotten tougher and tougher. But we’re fighting, and we’re going to keep going until we’re not going anymore.”
