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Gary Payton II of the Golden State Warriors reacts after taking a hit to the face.

The Golden State Warriors have announced a major update on Gary Payton II‘s injury status on Thursday ahead of their critical road game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Warriors guard Gary Payton II, who suffered a partial tear of a ligament in his left thumb during Golden State’s game at Miami on March 25, is making good progress. He will not play in tonight’s game against the Lakers and will be considered day-to-day moving forward,” the Warriors said in the medical bulletin posted on X.

Payton II has missed the Warriors’ last three games.

The Warriors’ key reserve guard averaged 11.5 points on 46.4% 3-point shooting with 4.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals in 21.0 minutes across 11 games in March.

Payton II previously missed one game in March due to a non-displaced nasal bone fracture and returned with a face mask to protect his nose.

His absence, however, did not stall the Warriors as they strung up three straight victories to jump to No. 5 in the Western Conference after they momentarily went down to No. 7 last week.

The 44-31 Warriors are half-game ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies who are all have identical 44-32 records.

A win over the Lakers will push their lead for the No. 5 seed to one full game and pull within 1 1/2 games of the No. 3 seed heading into the homestretch.

Jonathan Kuminga Remains Questionable

The Warriors have yet to release an update on fourth-year forward Jonathan Kuminga, who skipped their last game due to a pelvic contusion.

Kuminga sustained the injury during their March 30 win over the San Antonio Spurs when he landed hard and awkwardly on his back on a strong drive to the basket with 6:59 remaining in the second quarter.

The Warriors announced on March 31 that Kuminga was evaluated in San Antonio and needed more evaluations to determine the full extent of his injury which was initially diagnosed as soreness on his right ankle which cost him 32 games this season.

Before this latest setback, Kuminga was averaging 13.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 21.5 minutes as the Warriors’ Sixth Man in nine games since he returned from a 32-game layoff due to a significant ankle sprain. But he was only shooting 15.8% from the 3-point line, which kept Kerr from playing him together with Jimmy Butler for longer stretches.

‘No Leverage’ in Restricted Free Agency

A rival NBA executive dropped good intel on Kuminga’s upcoming restricted free agency that the Brooklyn Nets, the Warriors’ biggest threat in retaining the rising forward, are more likely to use their cap room on trades than throwing large offer sheets.

“They’ve sent the message that if they do anything major with their space, it’s likely going to be through trade, not signings,” the rival executive told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “Even if that trade doesn’t happen this summer, they’ll want to keep their options open.”

That puts Kuminga at a great disadvantage in extension talks with the Warriors. A prominent agent painted the worst picture that might make Kuminga regret his camp’s decision not to accept the Warriors’ offer in their failed extension talks last year.

“Actually it’s no leverage,” the prominent agent told Windhorst. “I’ve prepared my clients for a free agent recession this summer. Next year will be different, the cap will be going up and teams will clean up their books as they deal with the new spending rules. So you may have to wait and try again.”

Kuminga’s camp was “aiming for” a $35 million annual average salary, The Athletic reported in the fall, but the Warriors were only willing to go $30 million.

The rising star might have to settle with less based on the prominent NBA agent and rival executive’s intel which will be a big win for the Warriors.