The Golden State Warriors have experienced a number of bumps and bruises this season, and will now have to deal with one more injury. Star guard Klay Thompson, one half of the Splash Brothers, is going to be out for a couple of weeks. Sources close to the situation are reporting that he has a fractured right thumb that will cost him some time. If the projections are right, he’s going to be out for the next seven games.
While the Warriors are a fairly loaded team, don’t think that this absence won’t impact their betting lines. Thompson should be worth about a point to 1.5 points depending on the situation, according to BetDSI’s Sportsbook oddsmakers. What’s compounding the problem here is that the Warriors are already without Steph Curry, so that deprives them of their entire starting backcourt for at least the next four games.
In terms of the Warriors futures, they’re likely to be impacted a little bit too. They are currently a -175 favorite to win the NBA Championship but the main issue is that they’re neck-in-neck with the Houston Rockets for first place in the Western Conference standings. The Rockets are viewed as Golden State’s top competition for the NBA Championship. If the Warriors stumble once or twice over the next few games while missing their Splash Brothers, and the Rockets expand their lead in the standings, that will drop the Warriors slightly. As of now the Rockets have a two-game lead in the West. They are at +200 to win the NBA Championship.
The Warriors are already in a little bit of funk as they’ve been fighting it with Curry out of the lineup. They’ve lost back-to-back games but do have a very manageable upcoming schedule. Six of their next eight games are at home where they are 26-7 this season. They’ll host the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings this week. Then they’ll visit the Phoenix Suns on Saturday and the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. As for the Houston Rockets, they’ve lost just once since January 26th. They will host the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday before visiting the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday.
