It was officially announced that Gary Payton II — arguably the Golden State Warriors’ best perimeter defender as well as one of their best screeners and roll men aside from the suspended Draymond Green — will not be available for Game 3 against the Sacramento Kings due to a sickness that sidelined him enough to miss practice yesterday.
Gary Payton II is out tonight vs Kings. Missed practice yesterday. He’s sick.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 21, 2023
The Warriors are now missing two of their best defenders. In a small albeit telling sample size of two games, the Green-Payton pairing has played 25 minutes together. In those 25 minutes:
- The Kings are shooting 36.7% from the field (46.9% on twos and 17.6% on threes)
- The Warriors have a defensive rating of 94.6 and have outscored the Kings by a total of nine points
Meanwhile, the Warriors have also announced that Jordan Poole will start in place of Green:
Warriors are starting Jordan Poole in place of suspended Draymond Green for Game 3 vs. Kings, sources tell me and @anthonyVslater.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 21, 2023
With his defensive options limited, Steve Kerr is seemingly aiming for a full-on offensive assault with this decision, which will most likely also slide Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins to the 3 and the 4, respectively.
Source: https:/www.goldenstateofmind.com