The Warriors are expected to be without two-time MVP Stephen Curry for at least three months, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times, who reports (via Twitter) that Curry underwent successful surgery on his broken left hand on Friday.
The Warriors have issued a press release confirming Stein’s report, announcing that there will be an update on Curry’s status in three months. Based on that timeline, the earliest we should expect to see the star guard back on the court is on February 1, which means he’ll miss at least the next 45 games.
It’s a crushing blow for the Warriors, who lost Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston in the offseason and will be without Klay Thompson (ACL) until at least the All-Star break. Golden State was off to a bad start this season even with Curry in its lineup, having been blown out in three of the team’s first four games.
Now, the Warriors will have to try to get by for the foreseeable future without either Splash Brother, and without the sort of veteran depth the club had during its run of five straight NBA Finals appearances. The Dubs have one of the NBA’s youngest rosters, as we noted earlier today.
The Warriors’ cap situation will make things even more difficult moving forward. The team is right up against a hard cap and can’t add a 15th man to its roster, let alone apply for a hardship exception for a 16th.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks observed earlier this week (via Twitter), Golden State still has more than eight healthy players on its roster, meeting the league’s minimum requirements, so the club is handcuffed for now. Even if that number were to dip below eight at some point, the Warriors’ hard cap means they’d have to petition the NBA to add a player, per Marks (via Twitter).
In the wake of Curry’s injury on Wednesday night, Warriors owner Joe Lacob dismissed the idea that his team would consider going into tanking mode, suggesting that tanking is “against every single thing I and we stand for.”
However, without Curry and Thompson, the Warriors have limited upside and will likely be lottery-bound, so it won’t be a surprise if they lean more into the idea of developing their young players over the course of the season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
If nothing else, this gives the Warriors core some (forced) rest. With all the extended playoff runs they’ve been on in recent years, it’s not the worst thing to happen. I think everyone can agree they were a long-shot for any sort of sustained playoff run this season so this might just give them a reset sort of year.
Redshirt lol Not a bad thing, as u mentioned.
They should tank. I know the brass poo-poohed it Thursday, but that’s before they knew Steph needed surgery. I mean, when Willie Cauley-Stein is being seen as a “boost,” you’re not a playoff team even WITH Steph. link to socraticgadfly.blogspot.com
Between Curry and Klay there bound to dip far enough to not make the playoffs , Russel will get traded for Drummond and he will sign an extension , they will add a young prospect blue chip kid , sign a guy or 2 , Curry and Klay will be back dropping dimes , Draymond will be there to clean it up …
What is the attraction of Drummond to GSW? He does put up gaudy numbers, more so with Blake out and also in a contract year, but I don’t buy he would fit with them.
Russell was always getting traded in a 3-teamer with Minnesota for Giannis. Still probably going to happen.
They should tank it.
They aren’t going to need to. They are now officially bad.
Still better than about 10 teams in the NBA.
Because they have Russell and Green? You might want to rethink that.
Becuase I can look at other teams that are even worse. knicks, cavs, NO, bulls, wizards, kings, grizzles, and ect… so witch bandwagon did you hitch to this year let me guess Lakers.
Short sample size, but, third worst plus-minus in the league right now. They’re worse than a lot of teams.
As I noted earlier, Draymond is showing nothing special this year other than bricking threes, and Russell doesn’t look like he’s fitting in well so far. Short sample, yea, but now? The heat is on. And I think that, per Curtis, it won’t take a conscious effort to “tank.”
That said, Curtis, if you are going to miss the playoffs, you want a chance at the lottery, so being ninth in the West isn’t enough.
Tanking needs to happen.
link to socraticgadfly.blogspot.com
That really sucks… but on the bright side.. as a Heat fan.. thank you for Kendrick Nunn GSW… much appreciated.
I am not surprised about Nunn making it in the NBA. When he was on the warriors G team he was a great scorer.
Let the Russell trade rumors commence!
OR Dlo breaks out and leads the team to .500 by Feb, when Klay and Steph come back, and they squeeze into the 8th seed and proceed to win another title.
haha its funny how no one is saying it, but its not exactly -off- the table!!! 78 games is a LOT of games, and there are definitely worse teams in the league, New Orleans for instance, New York too.
LOL you are the epitome of a delusional Warrior fan. No one is saying it because its unrealistic and comical. Klay will not be able to come back and have a major impact right away. Draymond and Dlo cant carry a team. The Knicks and Pelicans are your reasons for hope?? No one said they were the worst team in the NBA. Warriors time is up and everyone in the world can see it but you.
Warriors time is up? No they will take a year off. Next year healthy with a top pick they will be even better and your team the lakers will be worse.
Even if they were bad enough to have good lottery odds the new format is unforgiving. Only way the Lakers get worse is if AD bounces which is not happening. Warriors are nothing without KD. A “fully healthy” GSW squad is a 5-6 seed. The delusions of a post KD Warrior team will only go up with the excuse of not having Curry/Klay for months.
Strike 5!
Next injury Will be Russell and then Green is traded.
embrace the tank