Andrew Wiggins out, but Klay Thompson will play vs. the Clippers

The Golden State Warriors are about to visit the Los Angeles Clippers for their final game before the All-Star break. The hope is to enter the break on a high note, with a two-game winning streak and a little bit of a cushion between them and the teams outside of the play-in tournament.

They’ll have one surprise player on the court as they attempt that goal, but they’ll also be down a player, too.

On the positive front is Klay Thompson, who will be playing both sides of a back-to-back for the first time all season. Following Monday’s win over the Washington Wizards, Thompson revealed that he expected to play tonight. He sounded extremely excited. In fact, he said “I’m so excited.”

That was Monday night, so it was unclear just how much confidence Thompson had in his return. But the Warriors injury report today doesn’t list him at all. So he’s good to go, and will get to play in front of his LA-based family.

It’s the first time that Klay has played a back-to-back in 1,411 days. What an incredible milestone that he worked so hard to achieve. Amazing.

The bad news is that the team will be without Andrew Wiggins, who was their best player on Monday. Wiggins is listed on the injury report as being out tonight due to personal reasons, with Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes first reporting the news.

While playing without Wiggins is a big hit to the Warriors — they’ll especially miss his defense since they’re facing a team with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George — that should never be the focus when someone is listed out for personal reasons. The cause of Wiggins’ absence hasn’t been reported, but it goes without saying that we hope it’s nothing serious. Hopefully all is OK with Wiggins and his family.

Also listed as out for the Warriors — not surprisingly — are Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II, and Ryan Rollins.