Warriors Lose Will Richard Indefinitely to Thumb Injury as Porzingis Trade Clock Starts Ticking

On Saturday night in Orlando, with Stephen Curry pouring in 41 points and the Warriors grinding out a 126-119 overtime win over the Magic — their seventh straight victory after an 0-3 start — second-year guard Will Richard quietly picked up an injury that will cost him weeks. Tests after the game confirmed a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, and the 23-year-old has been listed as out indefinitely, according to ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel.

It is the kind of injury that sounds small and plays anything but. Richard hurt the thumb during the win, still played 12 minutes and scored four points, and only afterwards did the damage become clear. The thumb is on his non-shooting hand. The bad news is the timeline: a UCL tear of this kind typically keeps a player out for three to six weeks without surgery, and the Warriors have given no return date at all.

Richard is not a star, and that is exactly why this one stings. He had played in all 10 of Golden State's games, started three of them — two of the last three — and carved out a real role as a defensive pest and a connector on a team that needed both. He is averaging 5.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and an assist in 17.2 minutes a night. Now the Warriors must replace him with Gary Payton II taking on a heavier load, and a backcourt that was already thin gets thinner still.

Because Richard is only the latest name on a list that has become the story of Golden State's season. Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody are both out long-term with knee injuries. Kristaps Porzingis, the big offseason signing, stepped away from basketball on Friday to prioritise his health after his body failed to respond while ramping up for the season — and the Warriors have been withholding his salary while he is away. Richard is now the fourth player on a standard contract out indefinitely.

And that is where the second half of this story begins. According to NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, writing in The Stein Line, the Warriors remain "determined to trade" Porzingis even after he stepped away, and would like to move him "preferably" before December 16 — the last day a player acquired in a Porzingis deal could be aggregated with another salary in a follow-up trade before the February 11 deadline.

It will not be cheap. Executives from three rival teams told The Stein Line they would insist on Golden State attaching draft capital to Porzingis to get a starting-calibre big man back, and the Warriors have not ruled that out — but only "for the proverbial right player". What they will not do is include Moses Moody. Golden State is determined to keep the injured wing out of any in-season trade business, believing both Moody and Butler can return from their knee injuries in the second half of the season.

It is a strange place for a team on a seven-game winning streak to be: winning, and yet reshaping itself on the fly. Porzingis signed a two-year, $40 million extension in the summer, with only $3 million of the second season guaranteed, and played just 32 games last season. The deal was supposed to help maximise whatever years Stephen Curry has left. Instead, the Warriors are now trying to turn an absent centre into a useful player before the middle of December, while a 23-year-old guard who had finally earned a rotation spot watches from the sideline. The wins keep coming. The roster, somehow, keeps shrinking.