Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II has suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb and will miss time with the season winding down, the team announced Thursday. He’ll be re-evaulated in one week. Payton, a 32-year-old reserve, plays a critical bench role for a Golden State team that has been among the NBA’s best since acquiring Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline.
That post-deadline success has primarily come on the defensive end of the floor, where Golden State ranks No. 3 in the NBA since Butler’s debut. Payton, one of the peskiest point-of-attack defenders in the NBA, plays an important role in that defense off of the bench, and with his 3-point shot falling lately, has been far easier to play offensively since Butler’s arrival. The Warriors are 16-5 since that deadline move, and Draymond Green has emerged as the betting favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year in that time. Now, Green will have to keep up his candidacy with a key teammate out.
More important than Green’s individual pursuits, though, is Golden State’s seeding. The Warriors, having lost two games in a row, have slipped to the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference. That would force them to win their way into the playoffs through the Play-In Tournament, which would start with a matchup against the No. 8-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves at the moment. Losing Payton will make it that much harder to pass the Los Angeles Clippers, with whom they are currently tied for No. 6.
The Warriors came into the season with one of the NBA’s deepest rosters. Injuries and trades have cut into that depth. Now Butler, Green and Stephen Curry will mean that much more for a Warriors team that has fought its way back into contention over the past two months.
