The Golden State Warriors were left incredibly short-handed against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday afternoon, with Kristaps Porzingis facing a fresh illness and Draymond Green ruled out with a back injury.
Already missing the Curry brothers and Jimmy Butler, the Warriors were left with nine healthy players available against the Nuggets. They should have have had at least one more, if not for a baffling roster decision that looks even worse in the wake of the newest concerns for Porzingis and Green.
Warriors not using 15th roster spot is a baffling decision
When Golden State sent out three players (Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield and Trayce Jackson-Davis) before the trade deadline and only brought back Porzingis, they opened up two roster spots to explore potential free agency options.
But while the Warriors quickly converted Pat Spencer's two-way contract to a standard deal, they've clearly chosen not use the 15th roster spot on an external option in a decision that should bring frustation among fans.
In a normal situation, having 14 or 15 players on the main roster is a negligible difference because the final player is unlikely to play much at all. However, this isn't a normal situation, but rather a veteran aging squad who were always going to face injury issues.
The front office/ownership have left the 15th spot open knowing Jimmy Butler is out for the season after tearing his ACL, while Seth Curry has been a non-factor in appearing in only two games this season in early December.
So while Golden State do have 14 players on the roster, they technically only have 12. That already leaves little wiggle room to play with, let alone when you consider that superstar guard Stephen Curry has missed the last seven games (and will miss at least three more) due to a knee injury.
Throw in these newest problems for Green and Porzingis, and the Warriors are running dangerously thin on available players. Of their nine available players against the Nuggets on Sunday, two of them -- Al Horford and De'Anthony Melton -- are veterans that are still on minutes restrictions. Oh, and yeah, Horford and Melton can't play both sides of back-to-backs of which Golden State now have on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The short-handed Warriors defied the odds to get one of their best wins of the season against the Nuggets, but why leave yourself shorter than you already need to be by leaving a roster spot open? It's an issue Golden State need to rectify, and ideally in the next 24 hours before the back-to-back.