Klay Thompson joined Jonathan Kuminga on the bench Friday as a surprise scratch for the Golden State Warriors matchup with the Charlotte Hornets. The Dubs, thankfully, barely missed a beat in his absence, with Andrew Wiggins and Moses Moody picking up slack left by Thompson and Kuminga in a 115-97 victory over arguably the worst team in basketball. The San Antonio Spurs have as many wins as Charlotte, but there's no doubt Victor Wembanyama alone presents more of a challenge than his team's record suggests. Is Thompson playing against the Spurs on Sunday?
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Klay Thompson's injury status vs. Spurs
Thompson was initially listed as questionable to play in San Antonio due to right knee tendinitis, the same injury designation that sidelined him in Charlotte. After his team's win over the Hornets, Steve Kerr shed more light on the circumstances that led to Thompson sitting out.
“He said he felt it a little bit in the Orlando game,” Kerr said of Thompson, per NBC Sports Bay Area. “He thought he was going to be fine, but during warmups pregame, it kinda stiffened up on him. Rick [Celebrini] worked with him on the table before the game and decided it was not a good idea for him to play.”
Kerr went on to confirm that Thompson's status for the Spurs game was “TBD.” Fortunately, he was upgraded to available over an hour prior to tip-off, per Monte Poole.
The four-time champion played a key role in the Dubs' win over Orlando despite feeling some discomfort in his knee, finishing with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting while also managing some key defensive stops down the stretch. Chris Paul started in Thompson's place 48 hours later, with rookie big man Trayce Jackson-Davis once again starting for Kuminga next to Draymond Green in the frontcourt.
Kuminga was also listed as questionable vs. San Antonio due to bilateral knee tendinitis but has since been ruled out, He's been out since Golden State's win over the Miami Heat on March 26th despite Kerr expressing optimism before the Orlando game that he might be able to play in Charlotte.
Golden State enters Sunday's action at 39-34, good for the final play-in tournament spot in a heated Western Conference seeding race. The Warriors are a game-and-a-half behind the Los Angeles Lakers for ninth and just one game up on the red-hot Houston Rockets in 11th, with games against both teams remaining. They already own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Houston, but can't say the same for Los Angeles even if they beat LeBron James, Anthony Davis and company at Crypto.com Arena due to the Lakers owning a superior record against Western Conference foes.
Is Thompson playing against the Spurs? Luckily, the answer is YES!
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