(Video) Warriors Star Shoots With Left Hand After Depleted Roster Forces Playing Time

Golden State Warriors roster is so severely depleted due to injuries that Malevy Leons has been playing through a wrist injury.

(Video) Warriors Star Shoots With Left Hand After Depleted Roster Forces Playing Time

Malevy Leons (Image credits - Firstsportz)

In Short
  • The Golden State Warriors faced a challenging season, suffering a 127-113 loss to the San Antonio Spurs with a depleted roster.
  • Malevy Leons, playing through a wrist injury, went viral for shooting free throws left-handed during the game.
  • Warriors head coach Steve Kerr praised Leons for his effort, highlighting the team's struggles with injuries and their current position in the standings.

It has been a difficult 2025-26 campaign for the Golden State Warriors. They were a strong top-six contender for much of the campaign till injuries derailed it in the last two months. A shorthanded Warriors suffered another tough 127-113 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at the Chase Center on Wednesday night.

With nine players ruled out, the Warriors had just nine available players on Wednesday. Some would even say eight and a half. Malevy Leons, who signed a two-way contract with the Warriors in December, has been playing through a wrist injury for almost two weeks.

Against the Spurs, Leons went viral for shooting free throws from his left hand. It was an eye-catching moment as the 26-year-old is right-handed.

Ever since Jimmy Butler tore his ACL in January and was ruled out for the remainder of the season, the Warriors were pretty much out of contention. Stephen Curry has been ruled out for the last two months as well. Since then, the Warriors have gone 9-17 in the 26 games Curry has missed due to injury.

There were a lot of talks at the trade deadline that the club would make a move for Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, the trade never materialized, and the Warriors ended up acquiring Kristaps Porzingis.

While a move for the Lithuanian did not elevate them to contenders, it did give them a chance to make it to the playoffs. Unfortunately with Curry still ruled out, they are going to be in the play-in tournament and are most likely to stay at tenth place in the standings.

Fans react to Malevy Leons shooting free throws with his left hand

With a severely depleted squad, the Warriors were forced to play Malevy Leons despite an injury to his dominant hand. The Dutch star had to play for nearly 30 minutes and ended his night with five points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

The clip of him shooting free throws with his left hand generated several reactions across social media.

Leons did make one free throw out of three attempts, and went two-of-six from the field. But since it was the first time he had to play significant minutes with it, the media and fans have now taken notice.

Steve Kerr on Malevy Leons taking free throws left handed

It was a tough loss for the Warriors as they find themselves 2.5 games behind Portland Trail Blazers, who are at ninth place. The loss dropped their record to 36-40. Meanwhile, the Spurs extended their winning streak to 10 games as they sit at second place in the Western Conference standings.

Steve Kerr
Steve Kerr (Image credits – Polymarket Hoops/X)

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr revealed that this was not the first time Leons played through an injury.

I’m sure our fans don’t know this, but Malevy is right-handed. And his wrist is really messed up, so he shot those free throws left-handed. He had to shoot, I think, three of them. He’s out there basically playing with one hand, and he’s flying around and making energy plays. We were totally shorthanded tonight, and I’m just really proud of the guys for the effort and the way they hung in.

Steve Kerr in his post-match press conference

With just six games to go, the Dubs will be hoping to see Curry back in action before the play-in tournament. It appears that the Warriors will need to go through two away games to make it to the playoffs.

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