Warriors' Gary Payton II has torn ligament in left thumb

Golden State Warriors guard/forward Gary Payton IIsuffered a partial tear of a ligament in his left thumb and will be re-evaluated in one week, the team announced.

Payton suffered the injury in the Warriors' loss to the Miami Heat on Tuesday night. He will not play in Friday's game against the Pelicans in New Orleans.

Payton's ligament tear is expected to be a pain tolerance injury once the initial week goes by after treatment and rehab, sources said.

"The obvious concern is we miss Gary," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said at practice in New Orleans on Thursday. "Gary has been one of our best players for the last month and we will really miss him."

Kerr said that Payton's absence will open an opportunity for Jonathan Kuminga to be the team's "defensive stopper."

"JK is the obvious guy, put him on the best offensive player, pick up full [court], harass people like Gary does," Kerr said. "I am going to ask JK to do that. Definitely opens up more minutes for him if he's effective with that."

Payton has played 58 games this season, the second-most in a season in his career. The do-it-all swingman has averaged 10.4 points and shot 65% from the field and 50% on 3s over his past 16 games this season.br/]