Golden State Warriors Injury Report (Jan. 5): Latest update on Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins' availability
A healthy Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins were crucial to the 2022 NBA championship win for the Golden State Warriors. The team needs them to be 100% at all times, especially since they are coming off a string of losses with the recent one against the Denver Nuggets, which ended in a Nikola Jokic buzzer-beater.
Their next opponent is the Detroit Pistons, who are desperately seeking their fourth win of the season on Friday at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
According to the recent injury report by the Golden State Warriors, Gary Payton II is out due to an injury, while Draymond Green is still working on coming back from a suspension.
That means the rest of the team, including Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins, are available to play.
What happened to Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins?
Surprisingly, Klay Thompson has only missed one game this 2023-24 season, and that was way back on Oct. 30 against the New Orleans Pelicans. The closest he had to an injury was in his adductor back on Nov. 4, but he played through it. However, Thompson still missed two straight seasons, and the team's medical staff closely monitors his injury.
This season, Andrew Wiggins has missed four games. His most recent DNP was due to an illness back on Dec. 22. But in November, he had a neck and finger injury that caused the team's medical staff to caution him if any pain arose.
Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins stats vs. Pistons
This is the second time that the Warriors and Pistons will compete this season, and their last encounter at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan, was won by Golden State 122-119 on Nov. 6. However, the Pistons have swept the Warriors last season's matchup, 2-0.
Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins played in that game and were in the starting five. Thompson shot 8 of 16 from the field and finished the game with 17 points and three assists.
Meanwhile, Wiggins struggled and tallied only four points in 21 minutes of playing time. He grabbed six rebounds and got a block to compensate for the bad shooting night.
Leading the team to victory was Steph Curry, who was the team's leading score with 34 points, four assists and seven 3-pointers. Chris Paul came off the bench with 17 points, six assists and three rebounds, while Dario Saric chipped in with a dozen points.