The Golden State Warriors have yet to announce an official diagnosis on Steph Curry's lower left leg injury. Regardless, the reigning Finals MVP is set to be sidelined for a pivotal stretch of the regular season after leaving Saturday's win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Curry is “expected to miss several weeks” as a result of the injury, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and STADIUM.
Curry tweaked his left leg while sliding his feet defensively late in the third quarter of Golden State’s 119-113 win over the Mavericks, who were playing without Luka Doncic and Christian Wood. The Warriors quickly ruled him out for the game’s remainder with a lower left leg injury, announcing X-rays taken at Chase Center were negative and that Curry would undergo a subsequent MRI.
Prior reporting indicated Curry would at least miss Monday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder as Golden State waited for a final determination on the extent of his injury.
The Warriors are locked into an overcrowded battle for postseason positioning in the Western Conference, currently in seventh-place at 27-26. They're just one-and-a-half games behind the LA Clippers for fourth, but also only two-and-a-half games ahead of the 13th-place Los Angeles Lakers.
Could Curry's anticipated weeks-long absence shove Golden State further down the standings, relegated to play-in tournament position whenever he returns? It certainly wouldn't be surprising given his all-encompassing importance to the Warriors, but they can take heart from going 6-5 in December and January when Curry missed a month of play due to a left shoulder subluxation.
Crucially, there's at least some optimism Curry could be out closer to two or three weeks than five or six. A league source says Golden State is “hoping” the reigning Finals MVP can return shortly after the All-Star break, according to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
The notion that Curry avoided major structural damage to his leg aligns with that potential timeline.
“I’m told Stephen Curry avoided serious structural damage in his lower left knee after an MRI on Sunday. But caution, pain tolerance and an eventual return to conditioning once that pain subsides will keep the 34-year-old out at least a couple of weeks,” C.J. Holmes of the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Either way, keep your fingers crossed on Curry's recovery, Dub Nation.
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