The Golden State Warriors continue to be the class of the NBA as they have won two straight games since suffering their first loss of the season. The 26-1 record is already impressive, but it seems like they will be getting healthier pretty soon too as Harrison Barnes has started to ramp up his activity in practice. Barnes has already been ruled out for Wednesday, but it seems like a possibility he could return before the New Year, according to Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area.
Barnes sprained his ankle on Nov. 27 in a game against the Phoenix Suns and hasn't played since, missing 10 games so far. With Barnes having already been ruled out for Wednesday, Christmas Day seems unlikely too, but he is making progress.
"Harrison got in the conditioning transition drill, which is a contact drill. It's nice to see him out there. Obviously, he's not going to be playing Wednesday. We'll just continue to see how he progresses and take it from there," said interim head coach Luke Walton.
Barnes is reportedly still favoring his ankle when he is going through practice, which is why he has already been ruled out for Wednesday, and Walton believes it is very unlikely he will play on Friday as well. Before the injury Barnes was averaging a career-high 13.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game through 17 contests.
With Barnes out, Brandon Rush has taken over as the starting small forward, although he hasn't played big minutes. The void has mostly been filled by Andre Iguodala who is having himself a nice season shooting 39 percent from three point range.
In other Warriors injury news, Andrew Bogut participated in practice on Monday and did some non-contact work. Bogut left the Warriors' last game in the first quarter and is dealing with a sprained back, but the Warriors consider him day-to-day for right now. Bogut doesn't seem all that likely to return on Wednesday, but he is a better bet to play on Christmas Day than Barnes right now.
