The injury Stephen Curry suffered March 16 against the Boston Celtics threatened to derail the Golden State Warriors’ season. They lost six of their first seven after Curry went down with a sprained ligament and bone bruise in his left foot.
Now that Golden State ran off a five-game winning streak to conclude the regular season, it’s looking more and more like Curry will be back here soon.
According to the Warriors’ official Twitter account, Curry is making good progress in returning from said injury and could return to full practice this week. Golden State officially lists his status for Game 1 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs Saturday evening against the Denver Nuggets as “undertermined.”
“Stephen Curry, who missed the team’s last 12 regular-season games after suffering a sprained ligament and bone bruise in his left foot on March 16 against the Boston Celtics, continues to make good progress in his recovery process.
Stephen started individual on-court activities last week (shooting, running) and may return to team practices at some point this week. His eventual return to game action—and the possibility of playing this weekend—is undetermined and will be based on his continued progress.”
Golden State Warriors’ update on Stephen Curry’s status
However, Curry himself seemed even more optimistic that he’ll play Game 1 on Saturday in appearing on teammate Draymond Green’s podcast.
This comes after Curry was a full participant in practice earlier this week. Head coach Steve Kerr had noted that he’d like to see the star guard take part in a scrimmage ahead of the game. He has two more days to do just that.
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Stephen Curry return could be a boon for the Golden State Warriors
In the 18 games Curry missed during the regular season, his Warriors posted an 8-10 record. They were 45-19 in the 64 games that he suited up in.
The interesting dynamic here is that Curry’s likely return comes after he suited up with fellow three-time champions Draymond Green and Klay Thompson for all of 11 minutes during the regular season.
It also comes with Thompson seemingly back to his pre-injury form after missing the past two seasons to injury. Over the course of his final 11 regular season outings, Thompson averaged 27.3 points on 42% shooting from distance. He averaged a resounding 36.7 points over the final three games of the season.
Curry’s likely return will also set young guard Jordan Poole up for continued success as a No. 3 scoring option behind the two-time NBA MVP and the aforementioned Thompson. With Curry sidelined the final 12 games, Poole averaged 25.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.2 assists.
Coming off a 53-win regular season, the Warriors fancy themselves as title contenders. Getting Stephen Curry back would only add another layer to that belief.