Warriors Starter Ruled Out for Tuesday's Kings Game

The Golden State Warriors finally got Stephen Curry back from his knee injury on Sunday, but now they have a different starter ruled out with an injury.

Gui Santos, who has missed just one game since Jan. 20, will not play in Tuesday's game against the Kings due to a pelvic contusion.

According to ClutchPoints' Kenzo Fukuda, Santos suffered the injury on March 29 when he got kneed by Nuggets wing Christian Braun. He missed the following game against the Spurs before returning for Golden State's last two games.

Kristaps Porzingis is questionable with knee soreness, while Curry is probable after returning from a 27-game absence to play 26 minutes against the Rockets.

Al Horford (calf) and Quinten Post (foot) have also been ruled out.

Santos' Absence Leaves Massive Wing Void

The only way the Warriors (36-42) can move up from 10th to ninth in the Western Conference standings is to win out and have the Clippers (40-38) lose out. That is extremely unlikely to happen.

So it makes sense that the Warriors are giving players rest if they aren't quite right.

With that said, Santos' absence will force the Warriors to play some funky lineups against the Kings.

Here is what the depth chart looks like:

PG: Stephen Curry (probable), Brandin Podziemski, Pat Spencer
SG: De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, Seth Curry, Will Richard, LJ Cryer (probable)
SF: Nate Williams
PF: Draymond Green, Malevy Leons
C: Kristaps Porzingis (questionable), Charles Bassey

If Porzingis plays, the Warriors will have three active players over 6'6". If he doesn't play, it'll be just Leons and Bassey.

Williams and Green are the only other active players over 6'4".

Among players not out for the season, Santos is arguably the second-most important Warrior. Without him, the Warriors will be forced into three- and four-guard lineups.

It might work against the Kings, but these lineups won't be used much, if at all, in the play-in tournament. And that's a shame because the players in the Curry lineups that could be used in the play-in tournament need to play as much as possible together to build chemistry for next week.

The result of Santos' absence will be more minutes for Williams and Leons to fill the forward void. It will also force Green to play more minutes at forward, which will give more playing time to Bassey.

The 6'10" center had a good Warriors debut on Sunday, finishing with five points, four rebounds and two blocks. He'll be motivated to play well, as this stint with Golden State is essentiallly a tryout to see if an NBA will sign him to a contract for next season.