Warriors rest bulk of starters as bench gets healthier

The Golden State Warriors are facing off against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night, with a scheduled tip-off time of 4:30 p.m. PT. With a win, the Dubs would go 3-2 on their five-game road stand, giving the team its first winning road trip of the season.

But that’s going to be very, very hard. Because not only are the Dubs on the road, on the back end of a back-to-back, and facing one of the top teams in the NBA, but they’ll be without the bulk of their starters.

Early Friday afternoon it was reported that the Warriors would be resting starters Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green vs. Cleveland after they played heavy minutes during the Warriors 121-118 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

That brings the tally of Warriors out for the game up to six, with Andre Iguodala and James Wiseman still sidelined.

The good news is that the Warriors are getting ready to welcome back JaMychal Green and Jonathan Kuminga, who have missed 14 and eight games in a row, respectively. The team also recalled Ryan Rollins from the G League before the game, so they’ll have 10 players, assuming Green and Kuminga play: those three, plus Jordan Poole, Kevon Looney, Donte DiVincenzo, Anthony Lamb, Ty Jerome, Moses Moody, and Patrick Baldwin Jr.

It will be fun to see those players get to have a bigger role, but I think we can all predict the outcome of this game.