Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard said he has never seen anything like the Golden State Warriors' injury crisis.
The struggling Warriors (1-5) have been ravaged by injuries this NBA season, with stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson on the sidelines.
Curry broke his hand last week and Thompson is recovering from a torn left anterior cruciate ligament after Kevin Durant suffered an Achilles injury in the 2019 NBA Finals prior to his switch to the Brooklyn Nets.
Draymond Green also tore a ligament in his left index finger, while D'Angelo Russell sprained his right ankle in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs on November 1.
"I've never seen it," Lillard said prior to Monday's clash between the Trail Blazers and Warriors. "I think they might be the first to do a lot of things.
"At one point they had a starting five of five All-Stars, won 73 games, they've done a lot of great things, made a lot of history.
"It just seems like adversity has hit hard at this point for them. Those guys aren't old. They'll bounce back from it, but you just hate to see it."
“We gotta bring it every night to continue to show these fans that we’re not giving up, that we’re competing and playing as hard as we can.”
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 4, 2019
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Lillard, whose Blazers are 3-3 for the season, added: "It's just unexpected. You don't expect to see them go from being such a huge deal, big super team, to one guy [Durant] leaves and injuries.
"It's just an unfortunate situation that you hate to see. In that way, it's just different. It's kind of weird to see them not as the Warriors.
"I feel for the players. You never want to see any of your peers go down with injuries. Klay's a great dude, so it sucks to see him go down that way. Same thing with Steph. ... They'll recover and they'll be back hopefully at 100 percent. That's what we all want to see."
