With the Warriors playing their second game in two nights after losing to the shorthanded Nuggets on Monday, Steph Curry (back) will be out Tuesday vs. the Bucks, per the Athletic’s Anthony Slater. According to Slater, Warriors’ HC Steve Kerr believes Curry needs this game off for rest purposes. Golden State next plays Thursday vs. the Raptors and the sharpshooter will likely be back in the Warriors’ lineup for that contest. In addition to Curry being out, Brandin Podziemski ($5,700, back) and Quinten Post ($4,000, ankle) are questionable Tuesday.
This season, Curry is averaging 24.3 points, 6.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 32.3 minutes per game with a 29.6% usage rate. With the veteran out Tuesday, Gary Payton II ($3,900) and Jonathan Kuminga ($5,500) are the top candidates to start in place of Curry. Jimmy Butler ($7,900) should also see a larger role. In the 20.3 minutes he has played as a Warrior with Curry off the floor this season, Butler’s usage rises 3.2 percentage points to 24.9% and his assist percentage increases 4.2 percentage points to 32.3%. Butler is scoring 1.3 FPTS per minute with Curry off the court and he is an appealing DFS target Tuesday.
Golden State is 6-3 with Curry inactive this season and Butler wasn’t available for any of these games. However, facing the Bucks, who are 9-5 since the All-Star break and haven’t played since Sunday, the Warriors are a three-point underdog for this game on DraftKings Sportsbook.
