The Golden State Warriors' forward Harrison Barnes will be missing the team's seven-game trip due to a sprained left ankle.
Initially, Barnes was projected to miss at least three games, but because of the injury, his recovery timetable would cover much of December. The Golden State Warriors do not have a good idea when he will return, and Bob Myers, the team's general manager does not believe it would occur soon.
Barnes will be missing two weeks of action as he will be re-evaluated on Dec. 13, which is when the team will return from the trip. Fortunately, he's making progress and walking without crutches while participating in some shooting drills.
"His limp is getting less, so we'll take it," Golden State Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said Friday. "What the (medical staff) told us is it's kind of a week-to-week instead of day-to-day thing," he added, as reported by Mercury News.
Some of the games that he will miss are Sunday's game against the Brooklyn Nets, Tuesday with the Indian Pacers, Friday with the Boston Celtics and Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Barnes got his ankle injured during a game against the Phoenix Suns in late November.
According to CBS Sports, the Warriors look fine without Barnes, but his defensive versatility and shooting is crucial to what they do. The team's reserve swingman, Brandon Rush has taken his position as a starter during his absence. Shaun Livingston took his place with the team's "Death Lineup," which features Barnes together with Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
Rush has a good shooting percentage but not as defensive as Barnes. Livingston, on the other hand, is a versatile defender but is not as good to play power forward and cannot utilize the floor like Barnes.
The Golden State Warriors have won all of their games without Barnes. Hence, it's likely that they can still stick with Rush as their starting small forward and Livingston for the "Death Lineup."