Just as the Warriors were beginning to hit their stride, a surprise appeared on the injury report Sunday night that threatened to halt their momentum in its tracks.
Will Richard was suddenly listed as out for Golden State’s game against the Pelicans on Monday night and will likely miss more time than that. The second-year guard was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, though the Warriors have not commented.
The injury isn’t uncommon among NBA players and typically requires surgery that comes with a recovery timeline in the neighborhood of six weeks. However, Richard did seem to catch somewhat of a break, given that it occurred in his non-shooting hand.
Richard, 23, had been playing well since a slow start to the season and carved out a role in coach Steve Kerr’s rotation. He was in their starting lineup two of their past three games.
He attempted only one shot in 12 minutes in Saturday’s win over the Magic but showed no sign of injury, making his sudden appearance on the injury report heading into Monday night a surprise.
The Warriors have won seven in a row since losing their first three games of the season, and Richard has been a small part of the turnaround. Although he has scored in double figures only twice, the former 56th overall pick has earned praise for his hustle and basketball IQ.
In 17.2 minutes per game, Richard was averaging 5.1 points. He appeared in 69 games as a rookie, starting 21, and averaged 6.4 points in 20 minutes per game, cooling down after a hot start.
Gui Santos, who recently returned from knee tendinitis, reclaimed his spot in the starting lineup Saturday against the Magic and will likely pick up some of Richard’s minutes. The rest will be spread around between De’Anthony Melton, Brandon Williams, LJ Cryer and Gary Payton II.
Kerr opted to insert Richard, a 6-foot-3 guard, into the starting lineup while Santos, a 6-foot-7 wing, was forced to miss two games with knee tendinitis. The silver lining for Golden State was that Richard’s injury coincided with Santos’ return in their win over the Magic.
The Warriors, however, should prepare to play without Richard for an extended period.
