Warriors beat:
Klay Thompson out at least three more games with fractured thumb.
Warriors guard Klay Thompson will miss at least a week with a fractured right thumb, a source confirmed to The Chronicle on Wednesday.
Thompson sustained the injury during the second quarter of Sunday’s loss to Minnesota, but he continued to play, finishing with 21 points on 8for-22 shooting and four turnovers in 40 minutes. He will get re-evaluated by team doctors next Thursday, which rules him out for at least four games: Wednesday’s win over the Lakers, Friday against Sacramento, Saturday in Phoenix and Monday in San Antonio.
The earliest Thompson could return is the March 23 game against Atlanta, though he is likely to be out longer.
“We’re probably looking at a couple of weeks,” head coach Steve Kerr. “We’ll re-evaluate him in about a week, but I think we look at this long-term as a positive.
“Klay plays every game. He’s only missed 12 games in his whole career. The guy’s a machine, but even without the thumb, we were considering giving him a game or two off down the stretch because he’s looked a little bit more spent recently. I looked at this as a positive. I think he’s going to be a little bit more productive in the long haul. It’s no fun to deal with, though.”
Thompson, who is averaging 19.7 points, 2.7 assists and 3.8 rebounds, had missed only one game this season, for rest.
His absence is a significant blow to an already-depleted team chasing Houston for the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed. With 14 regular-season games left, the Warriors trail the Rockets by 1½ games. Catching Houston, which has won 19 of its past 20 games, could require near-perfection from Golden State — a daunting task given the team’s recent rash of injuries.
Stephen Curry (tweaked right ankle) is expected to miss at least three more games. Draymond Green (right shoulder soreness), Patrick McCaw (non-displaced fracture, left wrist) and David West (right arm cyst) missed Wednesday’s win over the Lakers, though none of their injuries was necessarily considered serious. West is expected to return Friday against Sacramento.
Without Curry, Thompson and McCaw, the Warriors had only three guards — Quinn Cook, Shaun Livingston and Nick Young — available against Los Angeles. To shore up the roster, they recalled two-way-contract-player Chris Boucher — a 6-foot-10 rookie forward from Oregon — from the G League. He made his NBA debut in the final minutes of the win, grabbing a rebound and missing his only shot.
The good news for the Warriors: Jordan Bell (right ankle sprain) and Andre Iguodala (left wrist sprain), who each had missed the previous three games, returned Wednesday. Bell had six points in 18 minutes and Iguodala hit his only shot, a three, in 22 minutes.