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Golden State Warriors have little reason to worry when Kevin Durant misses a game

When you have the luxury of deploying four different All-Stars in your starting lineup, as Warriors coach Steve Kerr does, resting an injured starter (or two as the Warriors did in Friday night’s win over Chicago) isn’t as big a deal as it would be otherwise. Resting one of those All-Stars against the New Orleans Pelicans, though, could make things interesting.

Kerr announced that Kevin Durant won’t play against the Pelicans tonight (8:30 p.m. ET on League Pass) at Oracle Arena, a precautionary measure to make up for playing him earlier in the week when perhaps he should not have.

Logan Murdock of the Bay Area News Group explains Kerr’s thinking on the matter and why the Warriors don’t have to panic without Durant in uniform:

Though he finished the game against the Sixers, scoring 27 points in 33 minutes, Durant would miss the following game against the Brooklyn Nets the following day.

Durant would return to the lineup for Wednesday’s marquee matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, adding 21 points in 33 minutes, a decision Kerr regrets.

“We probably shouldn’t have played him Wednesday,” Kerr admitted. “I thought he was fine, but then he got a little sore afterward.”

This isn’t the first time Durant missed time this season, as the 10-year forward missed a Nov. 8 matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves after suffering a thigh contusion against the Miami Heat Nov 6.

Since Durant signed with the team in the summer of 2016, the Warriors have fared well in games he’s missed, going 23-4 without him.

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