ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Golden State Warriors head coach Luke Walton said today at the pregame press conference before the Warriors face the Sacramento Kings that Harrison Barnes, who sprained his left ankle in last night’s game at the Phoenix Suns, could be out on the order of weeks.
“He’s being evaluated today. We haven’t gotten the results back yet,” Walton told reporters.
“It’s all speculation. It could be a few weeks. It could be a week,” Walton added. “We’re not going to rush him back because we want to be healthy for later in the season and we don’t want lingering injures, so we’ll have him take his time.”
In Barnes place, Walton said he would start Brandon Rush, which means Andre Iguodala would continue to come off the bench and anchor the second unit.
“Andre’s so big with what we do. We love the chemistry and flow that our 2nd unit has,” said Walton. “We started Brandon earlier this year. He did a great job in that role. He’s obviously big enough, rebounds good enough to guard 3s (small fowards) and hit open shots. We have faith in Brandon.”
How does this affect the Warriors’ famed “small-ball” lineup, which featured Barnes at the power forward position, alongside Draymond Green at center, Iguodala at small forward, and of course Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in the backcourt?
“We still feel like we can get to it,” Walton said, explaining that he and the coaching staff had discussed the issue with head coach Steve Kerr. “We’re just kind of brainstorming different options, possibly playing Andre at some ‘4’ (power forward) and Shaun (Livingston) being the guy to fill in, so we’d have Shaun playing Andre’s role and Andre playing Harrison’s role.”
Walton also said Ian Clark could be another option as the staff “experiments” with possible small-ball combinations.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsKrJV6yCko&w=560&h=315](Photo: via CSN Bay Area)
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