Warriors wait for word on Kuminga's injury after his return was prompted by Butler's ACL tear

DALLAS (AP) — Jonathan Kuminga's return to the Golden State rotation was prompted by Jimmy Butler's season-ending knee injury.

Now the Warriors wait for word on an injury to their apparently disgruntled player.

Kuminga injured his left ankle and knee when took an awkward step on a drive to the basket in the second quarter of a 123-115 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night. He was fouled, made the free throws and stayed in the game briefly before exiting and not returning.

Coach Steve Kerr said Kuminga would have an MRI on Friday as the Warriors continue a four-game road trip that just started. Kuminga walked gingerly in the locker room and declined to speak to reporters, saying he was hurting.

Kuminga hadn't played in a month when he scored 20 points in 21 minutes off the bench in a 145-127 loss to Toronto on Tuesday, Golden State's first game since Butler tore the ACL in his right knee.

Kerr said before the game the team had its first chance to talk about the Butler injury in the hours before playing the Mavericks, and that the club was looking forward to resetting and refocusing.

The coach also said he felt the Warriors, who currently hold one of the spots in the play-in tournament at eighth in the Western Conference, had enough depth the compete without Butler.

While he seemed noncommittal on how much a part of that rotation Kuminga would be with trade talk swirling around the fifth-year player, Kerr said he was looking forward to seeing how the team responded longer term without Butler.

“I think they all understand that we’re good enough to win games,” Kerr said before the game. “That’s the job. This is part of life, it’s part of playing in the NBA. You get some adversity, how do you respond?”

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