Stephen Curry cleared the first phase of his return to the court after spending a few hours in a full-tilt scrimmage with the Golden State Warriors' G League affiliate in Santa Cruz. The “growing expectation” is that Curry, who has been out for the past four months, will return on Thursday when the Warriors take on the Toronto Raptors, according to David Lombardi of The Athletic.
Curry did not speak to reporters following Monday’s closed-door scrimmage in Santa Cruz, but his post-practice workout routine was open to the media. The two-time MVP shot for over an hour while consulting and working with the director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini.
The Warriors sharpshooter buried 26 consecutive corner 3-pointers near the end of his workout, looking sharp even after breaking a sweat against his G League counterparts.
The hope with this G League assignment was to gear Curry up for what will be a bevy of players in midseason shape:
“You can’t replicate a game in 2-on-2 or 3-on-3,” said Santa Cruz coach Kris Weems. “He needed that 5-on-5, all five guys moving around, take some bumps. The physicality is what’s going to be important for him to feel comfortable in a game, so we got him that in a game.”
The scrimmage was three seven-minute quarters, allowing for some rest as his own squad is also riddled with injuries. Weems feels that was enough for the Warriors star to get some reps in:
“He hit a couple deep threes off the dribble,” said Weems. “Sometimes I’d draw up a play for him and we wouldn’t quite get to that wrinkle, and he would just shoot it and make it. Steve (Kerr) will live with that, and I’ll live with it too.”
Curry will still need to be cleared by Celebrini and the front office before he suits up for the Warriors after a long stint on the sidelines. The 31-year-old was initially expected to make his Warriors return on Mar. 1 against the Washington Wizards, but his timeline was pushed back to allow for more practice time.
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