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Jonathan Kuminga missed his sixth straight game with bilateral patellar tendinitis, an injury apparently worse than the Warriors initially anticipated.
Kuminga last played on Nov. 12 against the Spurs before leaving after 12 minutes. It was his first game of the season coming off the bench, and he didn’t appear after halftime.
Almost two weeks later, there’s still no precise timetable on his return from the dual knee soreness.
The Warriors expected Kuminga to scrimmage with the team on Sunday, Nov. 23, but he didn’t participate in the live scrimmage portion of practice.
“He did a few things,” Kerr said on Sunday. “He’s got to tell you where he is…We didn’t do scrimmages, but we did live-drill work, and he barely did any of that. So, not moving well. The training staff is working with him. I have no idea when he’s going to play.”
Asked a night later if he received any more clarity on Kuminga’s outlook, the head coach said, “I don’t have any clarity.”
Kuminga’s MRI came back clean, Kerr said. He added that Kuminga didn’t practice “much [Sunday], if at all.”
“There’s nothing that is glaring, but it’s bothering him,” Kerr said. “So it’s just day-to-day.”
Kuminga’s sixth consecutive absence came in Monday’s 134-117 blowout win over the Jazz to stop the Warriors’ three-game losing skid. Golden State was also without Draymond Green (right foot sprain) and Al Horford (sciatica); the real test of the team’s frontcourt depth will come against the ginormous Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
On Sunday, Kerr said that when he talked to the training staff, they described Kuminga’s injury as day-to-day. He suggested that Kuminga himself could provide a better explanation of his status.
Kuminga declined to comment at his locker before Monday’s game.
The ambiguity with Kuminga’s injury comes with the backdrop of dramatic contract negotiations this summer that dragged into training camp. The fifth-year wing returned to Golden State on a two-year, $46.8 million contract with a team option in the second year. The resolution was made with the mutual understanding that a midseason trade is possible under that structure; Kuminga will be trade-eligible on Jan. 15.
The Warriors are now 4-3 since Kuminga’s knee issues sidelined him. They impressively swept the Spurs in San Antonio, but missed Kuminga’s athleticism in losses to the Magic, Heat, and Blazers.
The 23-year-old forward is averaging 13.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 47.8% from the field. His first five games were excellent, but Kerr pulled him from the starting lineup amid a 2-5 stretch in which his shooting efficiency dipped and his turnovers spiked.
Green isn’t expected to miss significant time, although he was briefly in a walking boot after suffering his foot sprain against Portland last Friday.
Without Green, the Warriors started a lineup of Steph Curry, Moses Moody, Jimmy Butler, Gary Payton II, and Quinten Post against Utah. Although Post took Green’s spot at center, Payton reprised the former Defensive Player of the Year’s role as a screen-and-diver.
Payton dished out a career-high eight assists in the contest and often defended Jazz star Lauri Markkanen.