The Golden State Warriors continue to experience the exasperation of rostering one of the older teams in the NBA, as superstar point guard Stephen Curry caught a tough break with regards to his already injured knee.
Marc J. Spears of ESPN reported on Thursday, February 26 via the “Willard & Dibs” show on 95.7 The Game that Curry suffered a ‘setback’ over All-Star Weekend.
“Well, I heard around All-Star Weekend he had a setback. He was trying to work out, he was trying to get back, and it pushed him back,” Spears said. “I’m not sure when he’ll be back, but I do know that he wants to come back.”
“This team is kind of a no man’s land, right? They’re probably too bad for a playoff lock, top-six spot, right? But they’re too good to not be in the play-in,” Spears continued. “So Steph expects to play in the play-in. He wants to be in the play-in. He wants the chance to be in the playoffs.”
Curry has not seen the court during the month of February while battling patella-femoral pain syndrome, known colloquially as “runner’s knee.” The team conducted an MRI on February 19 and released the following statement after completing the scan.
“Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who has missed the last five games due to patella-femoral pain syndrome/bone bruising in his right knee, underwent an MRI Wednesday night,” Golden State wrote. “The MRI confirmed the injury and showed no structural damage. He will be re-evaluated in 10 days.”
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At that point, the earliest Curry might have returned was for a game against the Los Angeles Clippers in San Francisco on March 2, and that was only if his re-evaluation led to an immediate reinstatement to full basketball activities, which was unlikely.
Now, given Spears’ report, Curry could be out considerably longer.
The Warriors are 31-28 and currently occupy the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. To Spears’ point, Golden State is nine games up on the Memphis Grizzlies in 11th, which is the last spot on the outside looking in at the NBA’s play-in tournament.
The Warriors are also four games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 6 seed, which is the last team that earns an automatic playoff berth to the eight-team field and gets to avoid the play-in proceedings.
Thus, there is little reason to rush Curry back with 23 games left on the regular-season schedule, as climbing into the top six would be a tall order even with him in the lineup, particularly considering Jimmy Butler’s absence for the remainder of the year with a torn ACL. On the other hand, Golden State is essentially a lock to remain in the play-in mix with such a huge lead on 11th place in the standings.
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