How Will the Latest Injury Update on Star Guard Affect the Warriors?
Golden State will have to wait for at least five games to potentially see its biggest weapon back on the court. Stephen Curry, who has been sidelined since February 19th with a “persistent knee injury,” will be reevaluated in 10 days, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater. The analyst further explained on his ‘X’ post that Curry’s process towards stabilization has had an “unpredictable” nature, as the athlete himself described. The Warriors are 4-6 in his absence, and will come off a lopsided defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers when they face the 28-31 Clippers.
This news offers another disappointing update for fans, considering where Golden State hoped to be after the all-star break. Dealing for Kristaps Porzingis on the trade deadline day, the Warriors took into account a lingering tendinitis issue on his left leg, and remained optimistic that he would contribute to the team’s playoff push post-break. Instead, the former NBA Champion is still not fit to play and has stayed sidelined for the last five games with an undisclosed illness. Curry was also set to resume last week, and sat out from the all-star festivities in hopes of a speedier recovery. Despite what he described as stacking a few good days together, he suffered a setback in training that led the team to shut him down for the immediate future. Adding Jimmy Butler’s season-ending injury on top of these two subtopics, Golden State is in a sub-optimal situation.
It would be to the Warriors' best interest to try avoiding the play-in tournament, and they seemed well-poised to do just that. However, circumstances have changed. Golden State is running out of time to escape what has become its destiny over the last few years, and they are running out of it fast. With 22 games left in their regular season, the Dubs are beginning to lose touch with the Lakers, who sit in sixth place in the Western Conference standings and hold a 4.5-game lead.
Steve Kerr’s team faces a challenging stretch that includes contenders such as the Thunder and Rockets, as well as teams like the Bulls and Jazz. This group has put up wins, even in times where injuries have caused problems out of nowhere. Still, the bottom line remains: until their two big hitters return to the court healthy, Golden State needs to find a way to make a push. Otherwise, this may be their last chance to get out of a single-elimination frenzy that could see the 2022 Champions compete for nothing in April.
