Nine times The Golden State Warriors Due to an ankle ailment, All-Star point guard Stephen Curry has missed a week of play. Golden State has played 1-2 in that time, losing 112-102 to the lowly San Antonio Spurs (14-52). Anthony Slater of The Athletic reports that Curry watched a team practice with the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s NBA G League club.
Before the organization decides whether to use him for a Saturday game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Slater says he is scheduled to participate in a team practice with Golden State today. Golden State, now 34–31, cannot afford to drop any more points in the Western Conference. With a 36-31 record, the Lakers are actually the ninth seed in the West right now, thus the outcome of this game might have a significant impact on playoff tiebreakers and play-in tournament bracket seeding.
This year, Curry has had yet another incredible season as an All-NBA player. He has averaged 26.9 points on.449/.407/.920 shooting splits, 4.9 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.8 steals per game through 59 games played thus far. Even while he may not be quite as good as he was in 2014–19, he is still the most deadly volume shooter in the league.
The Warriors finished the regular season with a 44-38 record, and after losing to the Lakers in a six-game series in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, hopeful analysts predicted the team would benefit from some tactical roster changes (most notably, the Warriors traded for Jordan Poole and acquired Chris Paul, who is older but still superior to Jordan Poole). Rather, the team’s record has stayed close to.500 the whole season. The Golden State club, which is aging quickly, has had an unimpressive 2023–24 season.
Outside of Curry, veteran wings Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins have taken a major step backwards this year. Draymond Green has had trouble staying out of his own way, but when he can harness his intensity into his effort on the hardwood, he remains pretty effective. Can Golden State survive if Curry is unable to play for an even more extended duration? That remains to be seen.
