Warriors news: Hield and Waters shine in win over Pelicans, Kuminga thrives in new role, Curry injury update

Without the services of Steph Curry (ankle), Andrew Wiggins (back), and De'Anthony Melton (back), the Golden State Warriors found themselves facing an early deficit against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night at the Chase Center.

Down 31-14 at the end of the first quarter, the Dubs fell behind by 20 just 18 seconds into the second following a three-point play by Zion Williamson. But it was all Golden State after that.

By halftime, the Warriors had cut the lead the Pelicans' lead to four. And with a stifling defensive display and the sharpshooting efforts of Buddy Hield and Lindy Waters III, Steve Kerr's squad outscored New Orleans 77-55 over the final 24 minutes en route to a 124-106 victory.

The Warriors easily won the points off turnovers battle, outscoring the Pelicans 34-5 in that regard. They dominated from the three-point line as well, outscoring New Orleans 63-27 from beyond the arc as they improved to 3-1 in this young 2024-25 NBA season.

These same two teams will meet again on Wednesday night.

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Buddy Hield and Lindy Waters III shined for the Warriors against the Pelicans

While several players stepped up on Tuesday night, it was ultimately Hield and Waters who stole the show.

After struggling to find his shot in Sunday night's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, making just three of 14 shots, Hield faced the same issues in the first half against New Orleans, going just 1-for-8 from the floor. But shooters keep shooting, and the second half was a completely different story.

Over the final two quarters, Hield hit eight of his 10 shots from the floor and racked up 25 of his 28 points, 19 of which came in the final frame as he went 6-for-8 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown.

He now has 20 triples for the season, the second-most in the league behind only Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards, who now has 22 after hitting seven on Tuesday night in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

After playing just 13 minutes combined in the Warriors' first three outings, Waters was on the floor for 31 minutes against New Orleans and even started the second half after helping Golden State get back in the game in the second quarter.

Waters certainly made the most of his opportunity, scoring 21 points, just four shy of his career high, making seven of 13 shots overall and three of seven from the three-point line. He also added a career-best eight rebounds, dished out four assists, and had the highest plus-minus of any player on the Warriors roster at +26.

Steve Kerr explained why Jonathan Kuminga was taken out of the starting lineup

With Curry and Wiggins out with their respective injuries, Kerr obviously had to replace them in the starting lineup. However, he also chose to bring Jonathan Kuminga off the bench for the first time this season.

Naturally, this decision led many to believe that Kuminga's slow start to the season was the reason for this. But in his postgame press conference, Kerr stated that wasn't the case at all.

"Without Steph and Wiggs, we didn’t want to start Trayce, Draymond and JK,” Kerr said. “I wanted a little more spacing. I knew it’d be a JK game. I knew he’d play a lot because he’s played well against this team. The matchups are good for him. I told him before the game, ‘You’re going to play a lot. This is just about combinations and getting a little more spacing on the floor to start.’ All it is is just shuffling the lineup to try to get the right five-man grouping out there."

Kerr's decision obviously worked out, as Kuminga had his best game of the season thus far. Playing a season-high 28 minutes, the fourth-year forward scored a season-best 17 points, making six of 13 shots, and added three rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block.

Kuminga's replacement in the starting lineup, Moses Moody, had a solid outing as well, making six of eight shots, including five of six from beyond the arc, en route to 17 points.

ESPN insider offers up possible Stephen Curry return timeline

Curry, of course, missed Tuesday night's game due to the ankle injury he suffered in Sunday night's loss to the Clips. Confirmed to have a left peroneal strain, the 10-time All-Star is set to be re-evaluated on Friday, leaving Warriors fans to hope he'll be ready to go on Saturday night when Golden State visits the Houston Rockets.

However, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania doesn't think the NBA's all-time three-point leader will be back this week — or perhaps even next week, for that matter.

Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Charania provided a possible timeline for Curry's return.

"He's going to be re-evaluated on Friday," Charania said. "But around him, the sense is this could be an injury that goes about a week. That would put him at early next week...Maybe up to two weeks, that's the sense around the injury itself. But the Warriors and Stephen Curry, they're just taking this day by day. They want to see how he feels, how he's managing that swelling.

"They're going to be cautious,' Charania continued. "It's still very early in the season. You don't want to rush Stephen Curry back on the floor."

The Warriors are obviously better with Curry; that's a given. But with this incredibly deep roster, easily the deepest he's had in years and one that was on full display against the Pelicans, Kerr has plenty of options to fill that void in the meantime.