Veteran forward Otto Porter Jr., who has played significant minutes as the Golden State Warriors have built a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals, will miss Tuesday’s night’s Game 4 in Dallas with a left foot injury.
Porter, who averaged 10.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in the team’s first two victories in the series, left Sunday’s Game 3 in the second quarter. X-rays of the foot were negative and he was listed as questionable for Game 4.
He was unavailable for Tuesday morning’s shootaround, and coach Steve Kerr said the nine-year veteran would miss the game.
“He’s still sore,” Kerr said. “We got to make the wise decision here. This gives him a couple of days to prepare for a possible Game 5 and we just don’t want to take a chance of harming his future availability.”
Should the Warriors complete a sweep of the series Tuesday night, Porter, 28, would have more than a week off before the NBA Finals begin on June 2. A Dallas victory in Game 4 would lead to a Game 5 in San Francisco on Thursday.
In Porter’s absence Sunday, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Moses Moody picked up his minutes.
Porter played five-plus seasons in Washington and had stops in Chicago and Orlando before signing with the Warriors for this season. He missed Game 6 of the second round against the Memphis Grizzlies with a sore right foot.
–Field Level Media