Warriors' Gary Payton II Reportedly Suffers Thumb Injury, Expected to Miss 'Some' Time

Golden State Warriors wing Gary Payton II has suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported that the Warriors are "still trying to figure out [the extent of the injury and return timeline], but they anticipate Payton will miss some amount of time."

It's a tough break for both Payton and the Dubs. The veteran has seen an uptick in minutes during March, averaging 11.5 points, four rebounds and 1.3 steals in 21 minutes per game. He's become a key contributor off the bench behind the starting 5 of Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski.

In total, the 32-year-old is averaging 6.6 points, three rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 33 percent from the field across 58 contests.

But March has not been pleasant for Payton on the injury front. He suffered a non-displaced nose fracture on March 3 that has left him wearing a mask for the past nine games, though it doesn't appear likely he'll feature for the team in any of its final 10 regular season games.

That's a tough loss—at 41-31, the Warriors currently sit at seventh in the Western Conference, just outside of the automatic playoff berths, though they have an identical record to the Los Angeles Clippers, who currently hold the No. 6 seed. The Dubs are just a half-game above the Minnesota Timberwolves, however.

Avoiding the Play-In Tournament would obviously be ideal. They just are going to have to make their push for a final playoff berth without Payton, further taxing their depth.