Gary Payton II, Jonathan Kuminga near the return to the Warriors Rotation

Los Angeles – The best defender in the perimeter of the Warriors is almost ready to return to the programming.

Gary Payton II, who missed the last three games with a partial tear in his left thumb, participated in the team shooting at the UCLA on Thursday morning.

He was excluded from the team’s match against the Lakers, but the team announced that it would be listed day by day.

“We are going to recover Gary soon,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, said before the match.

Payton, 32, has experienced 58 times this season and has an average of 6.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per game in 14.9 minutes per game.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Kuminga warmed up on Thursday evening, but was a playing time decision with a right pelvic bruise he suffered in San Antonio last week.

“He will warm up and we will see,” said Kerr.

Kuminga was listed as “available” on the official report on injuries after Kerr’s media availability.

The 6 -foot 9 inch striker is on average and even 16 points per game this season.

The Warriors (44-31) are the fifth seeded, now half a game ahead of Minnesota, sixth seeded (44-32) and the Clippers of Seed Los Angeles n ° 7 (44-32) in the western classification. The Lakers (46-29) entered the match as a seeded n ° 3.

Podziemski, Reddick, sees similarities

The Warriors and Lakers each rebuilt their lists in mid -season, the exchanges against Jimmy Butler and Luka Doncic making their pre -vanity results respectively – three victories of Lakers against Golden State – without meaning.

The Warriors have been 19-5 years since the addition of Butler, while Los Angeles has a 15-10 file following his successful business for Dononic.

Lakers do not play at a frantic pace they have made when the Anthony Davis center was running towards the edge, but Los Angeles is always effective when it reaches the open ground.

“They play a little different with Luka,” said Brandin Podziemski after Shootar. “They play more slowly, but they are still n ° 1 in transitional PPP (points by possession), and a lot of attempted rim in transition. We therefore think that if we can keep a man on a man and keep them out of transition, everything will be fine.”

Lakers coach JJ Redick also pushed the idea that the Warriors were a completely different team with Jimmy Butler.

“They do a lot of the same things, and we have to be great with our discipline outside the ball and our Curry conscience, and it is hell to try to keep it,” said Redick.

Although Butler gave Golden State a second halkandler who can draw mistakes (7.6 attempts to throw franc per game with the Warriors) and find open shooters (6.2 assists per game), Redick has highlighted his defensive impact as the Lakers are concerned.

Kerr accepted.

“Draymond and Jimmy are incredibly high IQ players, and the two working together, it’s beautiful to watch,” said Kerr. “They read. We could be in a scheme that we do not happen for any reason whatsoever and that does not phase them. They instantly react to what is in front of them. ”

Thursday is starting a series of three consecutive games against the teams sown higher than Golden State.

After finishing his six -game road trip in Los Angeles, the Warriors will take a quick flight to the Bay region to play a home game against Denver, the third seeded.

After a day, Golden State will welcome Houston’s seeded n ° 2.

“It looks like an eliminatory match,” said Kerr. “With this game situation, there are eight teams that would have been in the clear in the old format, and it would have been just to sow. We are all desperate to avoid this game, and he therefore created a race.”

Originally published: April 3, 2025 at 6:20 p.m.