Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green will make his 2023-24 season debut on Sunday against the Houston Rockets, he told reporters on Saturday. The four-time All-Star has been sidelined for a month with a sprained left ankle.
Green said that he will “for sure” play on Sunday, and expects to be on a minutes limit, but does not know whether he’ll be in the starting lineup, via The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. The Warriors have gone 1-1 to begin this season, losing to the Phoenix Suns on opening night before beating the Kings in Sacramento on Friday.
Green suffered the ankle injury during a pickup game in late September, as first reported by Jason Dumas of KRON4 and later confirmed by Green to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears. At the time, Green said that he expected to miss at least a month with the injury, adding that he “dodged a bullet.”
After recovering from a serious back injury suffered during the 2021-22 campaign, Green played 73 games last season, earning a second team All-Defensive selection and leading the Warriors in assists, while logging his highest scoring average since 2017-18.
There were rumors Green might seek a change of scenery during this summer’s unrestricted free agency, but instead he agreed to a four-year, $100 million deal to stay in Golden State.
“We’re really excited to have Draymond back,” Kerr said in early July. “He’s been such a huge part of this decade run and, as he showed this past year, he still has plenty left in the tank. … Given that he plays so well with Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson], it was really a no-brainer to try to bring him back.”
An injury before the official start of training camp wasn’t ideal for the Warriors as they begin to acclimate offseason acquisition Chris Paul into the mix, but the organization is certainly taking a long-haul approach to this season, hoping that everyone is healthy and productive by the time the playoffs roll around.