As a homestand starts for the Golden State Warriors, Jonathan Kuminga’s on-court absence continues.

Rehabilitating a sprained right ankle, Golden State’s fourth-year power wing will miss his 30th consecutive game Saturday when the Warriors host the Detroit Pistons, according to the NBA’s injury report. Kuminga suffered the sprain Jan. 4 against the Memphis Grizzlies, landing awkwardly after contesting a shot. In 32 games, he’s averaged 16.8 points, five rebounds and 2.2 assists.

In the six full games that preceded the sprain, he averaged 24.3 points (52.7% shooting), eight rebounds and 10 free-throw attempts.

Speaking Thursday before the Warriors played the Brooklyn Nets to conclude a five-game East Coast trip, head coach Steve Kerr, though optimistic, said Kuminga’s return isn’t imminent: “It seems like he’s getting closer. … Scrimmaging is good, but he has to feel right. He has to feel explosive. He has to feel healthy and you can’t rush that process.”

Warriors won’t rush Jonathan Kuminga’s return from two-month absence

Additionally, Brandin Podziemski is questionable to play Saturday with lower back soreness. The second-year guard left 44 seconds into Golden State’s 121-119 victory Monday over the Brooklyn Nets.

Speaking postgame, Kerr said Podziemski’s status is “day-to-day.”

Podziemski is averaging 10.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists. In the eight full games that preceded Thursday’s — a stretch he started in Golden State’s backcourt — he averaged 14.6 points (41.8% shooting), 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

The Warriors are 10-2 — and fifth offensively (121 points per 100 possessions) and third defensively (108.5) — since they debuted power wing Jimmy Butler, with whom they’re 10-1 when he’s active. They were 4-1 on their East Coast trip and 10-4 during a 14-game span that included 12 on the road. As a result, they’re standing sixth in the Western Conference — and out of the four-team play-in tournament — and three games behind the fifth-place Houston Rockets.

The seven-game homestand is the the Warriors’ longest of the season.

In addition to playing the Detroit Pistons, seeded sixth in the Eastern Conference, the Warriors will host the Portland Trail Blazers (Monday), Sacramento Kings (Thursday), New York Knicks (March 15), Denver Nuggets (March 17), Milwaukee Bucks (March 18) and Toronto Raptors (March 20).

The Knicks and Bucks are third and fourth in the East and the Nuggets are seeded third in the West.

“After a long road trip, first game back is usually the toughest,” guard Gary Payton II said Thursday. “We’ve got a physical team … coming in. (We’ve got to) just do what we can to recover when we get back and come out ready to fight.”