Warriors' Draymond Green Expected to Return from Injury 'At Some Point' After Break

Draymond Green is expected to take the court this season despite dealing with a lower back and disc injury.

While the only time he played in the last 20 games was when he was on the floor for the opening tip of Klay Thompson's return, the Golden State Warriors announced he "is making good progress in his recovery/rehabilitation and it's anticipated that he will return to play at some point after the All-Star break. He has recently progressed to doing some light on-court activity and will continue to increase his workload moving forward."

Green's last meaningful game action came on Jan. 5 during a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

The veteran is averaging 7.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 53.7 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from deep. While he isn't someone who is going to consistently take over games as a scorer, he impacts winning in a number of ways on both ends of the floor.

Golden State has missed his presence of late with losses in three of its last four contests, which has dropped it 5.5 games back of the Phoenix Suns in the race for the Western Conference's No. 1 seed.

Defense has been the biggest concern in the last four games, as opponents have averaged 115.3 points a night. Green is a six-time All-Defensive selection who anchors the Warriors defense, so his eventual return figures to be a significant boost on that side of the floor.

Head coach Steve Kerr recently told reporters the defense has been a concern:

"The main thing is that our defense has been bad. It's been bad for six or seven games now. It's hard to win in this league when you're looking like we are, defensively, with so many holes in our games."

"I know we are No. 1 in defense. But we're not right now. Those numbers are inflated by what we did earlier in the season. Over the last seven games, we are probably bottom five, if not dead last in defensive rating."

Green's versatility allows him to match up with bigs down low or bother ball-handlers on the perimeter if needed. He is a vocal leader as well, which helps his teammates make proper switches and fall into the correct coverages.

The Warriors have been missing that during this recent stretch of poor play, but that could change when he returns in the second half.