The Warriors are set to face the Bulls tonight as they continue their run of shorthanded games after being plagued with injuries to Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler this season. Not just their two stars, but their role players have also struggled to remain healthy.
In their latest injury update before the game, the Warriors have confirmed that Moses Moody is inching closer to his return after missing the last three games due to a sprained wrist.
“The re-evaluation indicated that Moody is making good progress and has been elevated to on-court work. He will be re-evaluated later this week,” said their latest PR statement.
Therefore, Moody could return when the Warriors face the Knicks on Sunday, March 15. The 23-year-old guard has established himself as a key rotation player for the Warriors, starting in 48 of the 59 games he has played in this season so far.
He is currently averaging 11.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists while shooting at a 44.1% efficiency from the field and 40.1% from beyond the arc.
Moody has two years and $25.9 million remaining in his contract with the Warriors after this season. Such phases of playing without Curry and Butler have been pivotal in helping him grow beyond being just a role player on the team.
For example, during the Warriors’ unlikely 128-117 win over the Nuggets on Feb 22, Moody proved his value to the team when they were without $170 million of their salary cap sitting on the bench.
He led all scorers with 23 points, seven rebounds, and five assists while going 9-16 from the field (56.3 FG%) and 4-9 from beyond the arc (44.4 3P%) as they nullified a 35-point triple-double from Nikola Jokic.
Moody injured his wrist on March 2 against the Clippers and has been sidelined since. He joins Stephen Curry, Seth Curry, Quinten Post, and Jimmy Butler on the sidelines for tonight’s game, while Draymond Green and De’Anthony Melton are listed as questionable.
Kristaps Porzingis has been cleared for action tonight in line with his expectations after the loss to the Jazz in their last game that he will be healthy going forward.
In terms of the team’s health, Porzingis has been one of the main concerns outside of their top two players (Butler and Curry). He recently spoke to the media and addressed Steve Kerr’s comments on his health, which sparked an uncomfortable conversation for Porzingis among fans.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Porzingis said of Kerr’s error. “Because it put something out again, so people started talking again. I told Steve it was OK. I know he didn’t mean anything, didn’t want to create hype around my health. He just said what he knew at the moment.”
Amid a barrage of concerns for their star players, it is a positive sign for them that their role players are inching closer to full fitness so that they can effectively take over, especially in Curry and Butler’s absence.
With 18 games left in the regular season, the Warriors are currently 32-32 and ninth in the Western Conference. They are 8.5 games ahead of the Grizzlies (23-40), who are in 11th place and 6.5 games behind the Nuggets in sixth place. This time frame does not seem sufficient for the Warriors to climb out of the hole unless a miracle proves otherwise.
The Warriors are reportedly considering bringing Curry back as late as possible, closer to the imminent play-in tournament run they seem to be heading towards at this point. It is good to see that the team will be much closer to being fully healthy (other than Butler, who is out for the season) when Curry returns.
In effect, with Porzingis fully healthy and Moody inching closer to a return, the players expected to provide support to Curry when the Warriors seemingly crawl into the postseason are getting some pivotal runs to get the rust off and get into the momentum for the postseason. There is a light at the end of this tunnel for the Warriors.
