The Golden State Warriors have gone from looking like legitimate contenders to a team suddenly searching for answers. With Stephen Curry sidelined for at least two weeks with an oblique abdominal strain and several other key players already on the injury report, the Dubs face a difficult stretch with little room for error. The question now is how the Warriors will hold the fort until their injured players return.

And what happens to Draymond Green without Curry beside him? Gilbert Arenas believes the Warriors need to confront that reality.

“How do you sustain without your Superman, right?” Arenas said, speaking on Gil’s Arena. warned that the Warriors need to change their approach rather than expect Green to operate as usual without Curry.

“That means now you’re powered by a rookie, and this team gets their energy from Steph, right? The building gets their energy from Steph, right? When we talk about when Luka came to town and he was being the bully of the group, who comes and saves the day? Steph. It becomes his show, right? They’re missing that.”

Steph exited the game early on Wednesday night against the Rockets, holding his side. MRI scan later revealed that he suffered a tear in the oblique abdominal region. The team will re-evaluat him in 2 weeks. However, it ideally takes at least a month to return to the floor.

Arenas then explained why Stephen Curry’s absence could be particularly difficult for Green.

“How does Draymond be Draymond if he doesn’t have the pieces? If he doesn’t have the pieces, we might have to switch our lineup to fit best for how we’re gonna play. Because if there’s no Steph, how does Draymond do what he does? Because we don’t have to trap that guy over there for you to get the ball back, for you to then go and, you know, give hockey assists, do what you do, right? We can just go wander; we can just do whatever we want; we can stick on you now. How are you affecting the game on the offensive side?”

Opponents no longer have to send extra defenders toward Stephen Curry, leaving them free to stay closer to Green and switch actions involving rookie Yaxel Lendeborg. That takes away the four-on-three opportunities Green has regularly used to create offense as a short-roll playmaker.

Arenas believes head coach Steve Kerr must adjust the lineup and offensive system. Otherwise, Green could end up compensating for the team’s offensive struggles with even more defensive work.

“That lineup has to be altered. And if you’re not going to alter it, you’re going to take a lot of Ls. Draymond’s going to do what Draymond does, right? And that becomes a problem anytime Steph is not in the game, right? It becomes frustration, right? Because he only knows… You know what I’m saying? He only knows winning. If you are out there not playing smart basketball, a frustrating guy like that, right? That then means he has to do so much defensively to make up for the offensive lack of execution. He’s going to get frustrated. He’s going to be frustrated. But it’s easy to play frustrated when you have Steph.”

To summarize, Arenas warned that frustrated Green would lead to anything ranging from on-court altercations to ejections.

Arenas also pointed to Green’s history of ejections when the team doesn’t have Curry in it, joking that the forward has an “85% rate” of getting himself thrown out when his backcourt partner is missing. His percentage was an exaggeration, but there is statistical data.

According to NBA writer Bryan Kalbrosky’s 2023 research, published shortly after Green’s infamous headlock on Rudy Gobert, Green’s ejections appeared to correlate with Stephen Curry’s absence. At the time of that November 2023 ejection, Green had recorded 18 career ejections, including that game. Seven of his last 11 ejections had occurred in games in which Curry did not play.

Golden State does have more support than it did during last season’s injury-hit campaign. Many expect Lendeborg and Brandin Podziemski to shoulder a larger scoring and playmaking burden, while De’Anthony Melton, Georges Niang and Charles Bassey will also need to contribute.

The Warriors entered this stretch at 8–4, giving them some breathing room, and their defensive depth offers another reason for optimism.

The post "How Do You Sustain Without Your Superman": Gilbert Arenas Sounds Alarm on Draymond Green After Stephen Curry's Injury appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.