Warriors adjusting rotation with Steph Curry sidelined
The Warriors have a new starting lineup

>Golden State Warriors’ Trayce Jackson-Davis (32) takes a pass from
Chris Paul against the Chicago Bulls, Thursday, March 7, 2024, at Chase
Center in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Danny Emerman is a Bay Area News Group sports reporter
By DANNY EMERMAN | demerman@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: March 9, 2024 at 5:09 p.m. | UPDATED: March 9, 2024 at 5:09 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2024/03/09/warriors-adjusting-rotation-with-steph-curry-sidelined/

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors have a new starting lineup, at least
temporarily.

With Steph Curry sidelined with a sprained right ankle, Golden State is
turning the offense over to veteran point guard Chris Paul. In an
additional wrinkle, the Warriors removed Andrew Wiggins from the
starting lineup, replacing him with rookie center Trayce Jackson-Davis.
That gives Golden State a starting-five of Paul, Jackson-Davis, Brandin
Podziemski, Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green.

“We’ll lean on certain actions that Chris likes to run,” Warriors coach
Steve Kerr said. “Look at some different lineups as well. I’m kind of
looking at is as: while Steph is out, we’ve got to figure out what do we
have to do to win tonight? And we’ll worry about the next game then. But
within that, we’ll have a lot of decisions to make. Who’s going to play
off the bench — it’s hard to script it, because we don’t know how the
game’s going to go. If we need some shooting, we’ll put our shooters out
there. If we need more rim protection, we can go back to Loon. There’s
minutes to be had, but it’s really dependent on how the game’s going.”

Jackson-Davis sprained his ankle on Thursday night and was initially
listed as questionable, but will play through the injury. He has
impressed recently as a lob threat and rim protector. He and Paul have
developed a strong rapport, with the point guard finding him either on
alley-oop dishes or pocket passes when he rolls to the basket.

Wiggins has started the past two games after returning from an absence
caused by an unspecified personal matter, but only played 15 and 14
minutes. He’s averaging a career-low 12.5 points and 26.7 minutes per
game in the first year of a 4-year, $109 million contract.

The non-Curry starters should be an athletic, defensive-minded
combination. Green, Kuminga, and Jackson-Davis are three of Golden
State’s best and most switchable defenders. The question may be if the
group can muster up enough outside shooting.

The new starting five gives Golden State a bench unit of Wiggins, Klay
Thompson, Moses Moody, Kevon Looney and Lester Quinones. Gary Payton II
would normally slot into that group as well, but he’s out with general
illness. Dario Saric, who’s been out of the rotation, could see more
time. His minutes got trimmed because of a brutal shooting slump, but
chemistry with Paul could prove helpful.

Golden State’s new rotation is subject to change and will naturally
fluctuate. It also is probably ephemeral. Because the Warriors got good
news on Curry’s MRI, he could return to the court as soon as Wednesday.
If that’s the case, everything will probably revert back to normal, as
that group has gone 14-5 since Jan. 30 — the best record in the NBA in
that span.