The NBA injury news continues to pile up as the Golden State Warriors announced that Stephen Curry has suffered an oblique abdominal tear and will miss at least two weeks.
The two-time MVP and 12-time All-Star suffered the injury early in the first quarter of Wednesday night’s game against the Houston Rockets with a little under five minutes elapsed in the game. Curry came off a screen and hit a three-pointer but grimaced in pain as he released the shot. He immediately signaled to the bench and, after the Warriors were able to call a timeout, Curry went into the locker room in visible pain. By the second quarter, the 38-year-old guard was already ruled out for the remainder of the game with an abdominal injury and was sent for an MRI during the second half of the game, which the Warriors lost 115-108.
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After the game. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said “there was a high level of concern” about Curry’s status and relayed that Curry told him that this pain was something the 38-year-old had never felt before.
Given the level of concern the Warriors seemed to have at the end of Wednesday’s game, the diagnosis could be taken as relatively good news. Curry will miss at least the next seven games, but there is a chance that’s all. While the Magic’s Paolo Banchero missed 34 games with an oblique injury last season, the most recent examples of NBA oblique injuries put the return-to-play timeline around 2-3 weeks. That means Curry could be back by the start of December.
While no injury to a player like Curry comes at a good time, this is a particularly tough moment for the Warriors to be forced to be without their star. Despite playing without Jimmy Butler (knee surgery), Moses Moody (knee surgery), and Kristaps Porzingis (illness), the Warriors had seemingly found their groove. They came into Wednesday night having won eight in a row. Curry was averaging 27.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 50% from the field and 45.7% from beyond the arc. His elite play, along with the emergence of Yaxel Lendeborg, had made the Warriors a contender in the Western Conference, even without Butler.
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It was a much-needed hot stretch after the Warriors missed the playoffs last year following a 37-45 season. Curry missed 39 games with injuries last season as well, and the Warriors were just 13-26 without him, which means they will likely have some work to do to make up ground once Curry is able to return.
In the meantime, even more will fall on the plate of Lendeborg, but Kerr will be cautious not to overload the rookie. Brandin Podziemski will be able to handle more of the scoring load, and it appears that De’Anthony Melton is the best bet to enter the starting lineup for Curry. In 25 minutes last night against the Rockets, Melton had 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
Given the significant injuries suffered by the Thunder, Trail Blazers, and Jazz, the Warriors, who are currently sixth in the Western Conference, remain very much in the mix. The team will just need to keep things afloat for the next two-plus weeks until their captain can return.
This article has been updated with the most recent news.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
