Golden State Warriors forward and podcaster Draymond Green weighed in on the conversation about Steph Curry being shut down for the rest of the season so the Warriors can tank. Curry suffered a right knee injury on January 30 in a matchup against the red-hot Detroit Pistons; that didn't appear to be serious, and the Warriors listed him as day-to-day as the All-Star break neared.
But Curry has been out for over a month, as the Warriors said they were set to re-evaluate him soon. Now, the Warriors face a tough stretch without Curry and Jimmy Butler, who went down mid-season with an ACL injury. With the Warriors sitting at the eighth seed and losing seven of their last 11 games, there's been wide speculation that the season is over.
In an interview with Tim Kawakami of The TK Show, Mike Dunleavy Jr. didn't fully rule out Curry sitting out for the rest of the season, but said it would be a surprise if it happened.
“It would be very, very surprising. But, you know, I’m not going to rule anything out; I’m not a doctor, and things can go a certain way. So, I don’t want the headline to be Steph may be done for the year because I’m not ruling it out, but just because he’s not playing right now, I just have to acknowledge that I’m sure there’s a chance, but we don’t expect that.”
Given the conversation, Green discussed the possibility of the Warriors making that decision on his eponymous podcast.
“I see a lot of people saying, ‘Oh man, they should just tank and not bring Steph back the rest of the year' and all these things. One thing I would tell you is this: shutting Steph down for the rest of the year is not something that’s just going to happen, barring that he can play. I can also assure you, Joe Lacob isn’t going to tank. I saw Mat Ishbia say, it’s never going to be in my DNA to tank. You get better and if we end up bad and get a good draft pick, we get a good draft pick, but we’re not going to tank. That’s Joe Lacob, for sure.”
Also of note, ClutchPoints senior NBA insider Brett Sigel reported that sources indicate that Curry would recieve around-the clock treament to put himself in position to compete in the playoffs. The Warriors have had a break of sorts, having no games on Tuesday and Wednesday as they gear up for a game Thursday against Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets that will be airing nationally on Prime Video.
With the Warriors having an interesting stretch of games against tough teams such as the Thunder on Saturday, the Timberwolves on March 13, and the Knicks on March 15, a decision will certainly have to be made about Steph's immediate playing future to keep the Warriors at least in the Play-In picture.
