The Golden State Warriors depth will once again be tested in Game 3

Following injuries to both Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney in Sunday night’s game, the Golden State Warriors’ depth will once again be tested.

The Golden State Warriors have dealt with their fair share of injuries this postseason. Already playing without Kevin Durant and dealing with the likes of DeMarcus Cousins and Andre Iguodala at less than 100%, the team already had to test their depth quite a bit.

But the basketball gods weren’t about to give the two-time defending champs any breaks.

The first blow was to standout role player Kevon Looney who was injured on a hard fall following a stiff drive from Kawhi Leonard in Sunday night’s Game 2. Looney was initially diagnosed with a chest contusion but tests later revealed that he had broken his collarbone effectively ending his 2019 postseason run.

That injury stings and the nature of it makes it even worse, but it might not even be the most notable wound to come out of that game.

Star shooting guard Klay Thompson was the next victim of the injury bug when he fell awkwardly with just under eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Thompson was diagnosed with a hamstring strain and is currently listed as questionable for tonight’s game, at the time of writing.

The five-time NBA All-Star had already scored 25 points through 32 minutes in that game and was shooting at a very high clip. If he is forced to miss any time, it would be a major blow to a team already exhausting every bit of their depth.

But Thompson has made it clear that he has every intention of playing.

Whether Thompson does play or not, the remainder of the Warriors bench will undoubtedly be on standby as head coach Steve Kerr could very well limit his minutes. That’s especially true as the team likely wouldn’t want to re-aggravate his injury with the rest of the series still ahead.

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That means that players like Quinn Cook and Shaun Livingston could be forced to play more minutes than usual. After an unnoteworthy start to the postseason, Cook drained 3-of-5 of his three-pointers in Sunday’s game and should see even more looks in Game 3.

But perhaps the real depth of the team will be tested with Looney’s certain absence for the remainder of the playoffs.

Looney has been, by pretty much all standards, the most productive bench player for the Warriors this postseason. The 2015 first-round pick has shot a fantastic .730% from the field in the playoffs and is averaging over seven points and 4.5 rebounds in around 20 minutes per game.

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In many ways, he has been the spark plug coming off the bench and igniting the second unit. Even with the injury to Cousins, Kerr opted to keep Looney on the bench simply because of his value to the second unit.

Now all of that is gone.

The Warriors have no shortage of big men that could take his place, but none will bring the same impact that he brought. But that doesn’t mean the likes of Andrew Bogut, Jordan Bell, and Jonas Jerebko won’t still be asked to step up.

With Cousins back in his starting role, Bell will likely be the primary big man coming off the bench with Bogut playing in certain matchups and Jerebko coming in at the four when they need a shooter. And with Iguodala still banged up, expect Alfonzo McKinnie to get plenty of looks at the three with the second unit.

The Warriors have been tested quite a bit this postseason and their depth has been put through the figurative wringer. But they haven’t quite been tested like this before.

It’s going to take all hands on deck to not only defeat the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 but to come out on top in the series.

Fortunately, this won’t be the first time this postseason that the Warriors have had to rely on their depth.