The Golden State Warriors will be without several rim-protectors for Monday night's road game against the Atlanta Hawks, including Draymond Green (toe), DeMarcus Cousins (Achilles) and Damian Jones (pectoral tear). As a result, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is giving the starting center duties to Kevon Looney — for now.
Coach Kerr elaborated on this decision during Monday morning's shootaround.
“This is our first game without D.J. (Damian Jones), so I'll start Looney tonight, and then we'll just go from there,” Kerr told reporters. “Obviously, we're short-handed in the front-court. Otherwise, Draymond and DeMarcus can play some center when they come back. For right now, it's Loon and J.B. (Jordan Bell). We could throw Jonas (Jerebko) out there, but we'll just take it game by game.”
Kevon Looney will start at center tonight in Atlanta. Steve Kerr discusses his plans at center moving forward. pic.twitter.com/uIPDvkxvHa
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 3, 2018
Looney, 22-years-old, has made 24 appearances with the Warriors this season (two starts), racking up averages of 5.8 points per game on 59.8 percent shooting from the field, 5.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and just under one block (0.8) in 19.0 minutes per outing (per Basketball Reference).
Most reports are stating that Green will be out for three games due to his toe injury, but there is a bit of good news on the Golden State horizon. While there still isn't a timetable for his return, Cousins is expected to be a full participant in team practices going forward.
Monday night's Warriors-Hawks game is scheduled to tip inside State Farm Arena at 7:30 p.m. EST. The meeting marks the third game of Golden State's season-long five-game road trip.
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