Timberwolves-Warriors Game Statuses Revealed for Steph, Draymond, Horford, Conley

Stephen Curry will make his return Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves (15-9) after missing five games with a quad injury.

But it's not all good news on the injury report for the Golden State Warriors (13-12).

Draymond Green will miss the game due to personal reasons, while Al Horford is out with sciatica.

For the Wolves, Anthony Edwards is questionable with right foot soreness, while Mike Conley is out with an Achilles injury.

Steph vs. Ant for the 16th Time (Assuming Ant Plays)

Team USA Olympic teammates Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry will battle for the 16th time on Friday. The Warriors lead the matchup 9-6, and both players have played well individually.

Edwards is averaging 25.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.3 steals, while Curry is averaging 27.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.1 steals.

In last year's regular season, the Warriors won three of four. Curry outscored Edwards in three Golden State wins, and Edwards outscored Curry in the one Minnesota win.

Without Draymond, Warriors Will Likely Have 14th Different Starting Lineup

Green has missed only one game that Curry has missed, and the starting lineup for that game against the Jazz on Nov. 24 was Curry, Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody, Gary Payton II and Quinten Post.

A lot has changed since then.

Moody was pulled from the starting lineup the last two games of the most recent road trip as he's been in a shooting slump. Payton barely played in two of three recent road games, though he played 27 minutes in the other, so it's hard to say what his standing is in the rotation.

Meanwhile, Will Richard has started five of the last six games. Pat Spencer and Buddy Hield have started the last two. Brandin Podziemski has started three of the last five, and he's coming off his best game in weeks on Sunday.

And of course, Jonathan Kuminga got benched Sunday and is unlikely to be in the rotation, while Gui Santos logged 59 minutes on the road trip and De'Anthony Melton made his first two appearances of the season.

Got all that?

The Warriors will likely start Curry at the 1, Butler at the 4 and Post at the 5. That leaves two spots that could reasonably go to Richard, Podz, Spencer, Hield and Payton while Melton continues to come off the bench as part of his ramping-up process.

No matter what the Warriors decide, they'll be smaller than Minnesota's projected lineup of Donte DiVincenzo, Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.

My guess is they'll go with Payton for his defense on Edwards, and the last spot will be given to Richard.