Golden State Warriors guard D'Angelo Russell has been nursing a right thumb injury, which has sidelined him from the Dubs' past six games and Friday night's matchup on the road with the Miami Heat. However, the 23-year-old All-Star could be back by the end of the team's five-game road trip.
According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Russell completed a pregame shooting routine without anything covering his injured thumb.
D’Angelo Russell went through a full pregame shooting routine in Miami. Nothing covering his injured right thumb. Doesn’t seem far away from a return. Don’t rule out the end of this current 5-game road trip.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 30, 2019
Russell was averaging 24.3 points and 6.7 assists per game through 10 contests with the Warriors, shooting 45.5% percent from the field and 35.4 percent from 3-point range before going down with the thumb injury.
For the Warriors, Russell's injury was the latest on the heap of ailments afflicting a team with — at one point — only eight healthy players, the minimum required by the NBA. Golden State head coach Steve Kerr monikered his only remaining healthy players the “Elite Eight.”
“So for us to be doing this almost routinely now is — I’ve never seen it. So it’s a testament to the group, the ‘Elite Eight,’ that I like to call them. The Elite Eight’s doing a hell of a job hanging in there,” Kerr said.
Russell, however, should be back up and running again for the Warriors soon enough.
Nevertheless, his All-Star teammates Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson will be out for awhile, with Thompson slated to miss the entire 2019-20 season. Fortunately for the Warriors, they have veteran power forward Draymond Green back as a mentor to the very young team with the worst record in the league.
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