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The Golden State Warriors have released their first injury update for Steph Curry, who broke his hand during Wednesday night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns. And the news is not great.
Golden State announced that the two-time MVP successfully underwent surgery, and that he will be reevaluated in three months. That three month date is strictly for reevaluation - it’s not an estimate of when he’ll be back. So don’t circle your calendars for February 1, because that’s simply when he’ll have the hand looked at.
Stephen Curry injury update: pic.twitter.com/J9L5nsSTaA
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) November 1, 2019
Three months from now marks the 50th game of the season for the Warriors. Meaning even if Curry returns shortly after reevaluation, he’ll only get 25-30 games in before the season ends.
In other words, prepare yourselves for a lottery season, Warriors fans. That seems the most likely scenario, by a comfortable margin.
There’s certainly a good chance that Curry doesn’t play again this year. If that reevaluation determines that he’s still a good ways off, that will take him to the end of the season. And even if he’s ready to return by, say, March 1, the Warriors very well may be removed from the playoff race, in which case Golden State might just shut him down, play for a high draft pick, and regroup in 2020-21.
Either way, it’s not the news that Curry, or the team was hoping for. But then again, you can never count them out:
Draymond Green isn't buying Golden State is automatically out of the playoff chase with Steph's injury: "No, I play basketball for a living, I'm a competitor. I'm never throwing playoffs out of the equation. We're going to compete every night and live with the results."
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) November 1, 2019