Warriors rookies Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins got to make their G League debuts on Wednesday afternoon. Only Baldwin got to finish.
Rollins, Golden State’s second-round pick from Toledo, missed the entire second half of the Santa Cruz Warriors’ 124-102 loss in Oklahoma City after appearing to tweak his left foot late in the first half.
Golden State Warriors rookie, Ryan Rollins, who is currently on assignment with the Santa Cruz Warriors, did not play in the second half of their game this morning following what looked like a possible ankle tweak on this play below just before the end of the first half. pic.twitter.com/jLMD5qaAuD
— GSWCBA (@gswcba) November 9, 2022
Santa Cruz made no immediate announcement regarding Rollins’ status, but it’s quite possible he sat out for precautionary measures. Rollins, after all, missed the Summer League after Golden State discovered he had a fractured foot during a post-draft examination. On the bright side, his previous injury was to his right foot.
Baldwin, the 28th overall pick in June’s draft, hit three 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 15 points to go with five rebounds and two steals. The 6-foot-9 rookie from Wisconsin-Milwaukee also had four of Santa Cruz’s whopping 26 turnovers in the loss.
Rollins, like his Sea Dubs teammates, had an uneven first half as he scored nine points on 3-for-11 shooting (1-for-6 on 3-pointers) with a team-worst -22 plus-minus as OKC Blue rolled to a 70-45 halftime edge. Rollins’ play improved in the final minutes of the half, he had a nice dribble drive and dish for one of his three assists and scored five points in the final minute, including a 3-pointer from the wing.
After drilling the 3-pointer, though, Rollins stepped on an opponent’s foot while pressuring the inbounds pass. Replays on NBC Sports Bay Area’s broadcast showed the 6-foot-3 guard appearing to roll his left foot. Rollins, though, didn’t seem to be favoring the foot while heading back down on defense.
With Golden State off until hosting Cleveland on Friday, both Rollins and Baldwin were assigned to Santa Cruz on Tuesday in order to get some playing time. Rollins has appeared in four games with Golden State, averaging 1.8 points while playing 3.3 minutes per game. Baldwin has played just five minutes over two games and has yet to score his first NBA basket.
Santa Cruz (1-2) will play in Oklahoma City again Thursday at 5 p.m. PST.
