Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green will miss Tuesday’s season-opening home game against the Phoenix Suns due to his ailing left ankle.
Green participated in practice on Monday and also took part in a controlled scrimmage, but coach Steve Kerr said the 12th-year pro isn’t ready to play in a game.
“He’s doing really well but we don’t feel like it would be wise to throw him out with so little scrimmage time on the floor,” Kerr told reporters. “We’ll reassess as the days go.”
Green sprained the ankle during a pickup game at the Warriors’ arena in San Francisco in late September. He missed the entire preseason.
Green returned to practice earlier this week and did 3-on-3 work. He also participated in a scrimmage on Sunday.
Golden State’s second game is Friday against the host Sacramento Kings.
Kerr said it will hurt not to have Green against the Suns.
“I have a clear vision of our team this year and it will not be on display tomorrow night because we are not where we need to be,” Kerr said. “We’re going to be way better in a month or two, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get off to a good start … play well over the next couple of weeks as we’re fitting Draymond back in.”
Green signed a four-year, $100 million deal with the Warriors in the offseason.
The 33-year-old averaged 8.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 73 games last season. He shot a career-best 52.7 percent from the field.
Green has career averages of 8.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks in 758 games (608 starts) with Golden State since being a second-round pick (35th overall) out of Michigan State in the 2012 draft.
–Field Level Media