The most forgettable four-month period of Warriors basketball in the Steve Kerr era is over. Steph Curry will return from a 58-game absence on Thursday night at Chase Center against the Raptors. The decision was finalized on Wednesday afternoon. Team director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini and the medical staff gave the official go-ahead.
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Curry returns with 20 games remaining in this dying season, injecting some needed entertainment into a low-stakes basketball environment. It’s good news for the NBA and its ratings dilemma. Six of the Warriors’ next seven games are on ABC, TNT or ESPN and 13 of their final 20 are on national TV.
It’s also welcome news for Curry, who has relentlessly rehabbed after breaking a bone in his left hand on Oct. 30, pushing to get back despite watching the playoffs fade out of reach for the Warriors long ago. Why? He loves to hoop, his coaches want him to learn his new teammates (and vice versa), the local fans could use some marquee Chase Center nights and this will allow Curry to test that left hand and shake the rust off of his game before the Olympics this summer.
Could a Curry return and subsequent hot streak jeopardize the franchise’s draft positioning? Perhaps slightly. The Warriors, stunningly, have won two of their past three, bringing them up to 14 wins this season, still with the worst record in the league. The Cavaliers, at 17 wins, are next closest in the standings. The Wolves are at a nearby 18, the Hawks and Knicks at 19.
The Warriors still have games remaining against the Knicks, Hawks and Cavaliers and, with Curry, should be favored in all three matchups. But considering the fringe NBA talent filling out their rotation, the delicate approach they’ll take with Curry — a 25ish-minute limit to start, potentially resting him during their four remaining back-to-backs — and the otherwise challenging schedule still remaining, there are still plenty of losses ahead.
Twelve of their final 20 are against current playoff teams. Here is the full schedule.
- vs. Raptors
- vs. Sixers
- vs. Clippers
- vs. Nets
- at Bucks
- at Raptors
- at Pacers
- at Pistons
- at Knicks
- vs. Hawks
- vs. Thunder
- vs. Spurs
- vs. Nuggets
- at Rockets
- at Spurs
- at Lakers
- vs. Cavaliers
- at Clippers
- vs. Blazers
- at Kings
The 58-game Curry disappearance wasn’t all bad for the Warriors. It clarified their inability to compete, allowing the franchise to take one giant, relaxing step backward and use this season to develop their youth, shut off the unrelenting part of Draymond Green’s brain and remain extremely patient with Klay Thompson’s rehab approach.
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In the 13-45 wreckage that followed Curry’s late October hand injury, the Warriors discovered plenty. Most notably: The D’Angelo Russell experiment was worth scrapping. So they flipped him for Andrew Wiggins and a valuable future first-rounder, better balancing their roster and replenishing an empty bucket of assets.
The step out of contention also allowed them to plan ahead, renting out some of their low-cost veterans for four future second-rounders while also finding a way to slip under the luxury tax, resetting the repeater clock — a complicated, cost-cutting set of moves the Warriors swear will only allow them to spend more in the near future.
But the most tangibly positive result of the Curry absence is yet to arrive. The 58 games of suffering will manifest itself into that likely top-five pick — the prize for the pain — who will arrive to an extra dose of pressure, the rare high lottery pick joining a contending team in need of some immediate winning contributions (think: Jayson Tatum, 2017-18 Celtics).
Those are all the side benefits of a much more brutal set of injury events. Green turned 30 on Wednesday. Thompson, coming off an ACL tear, is 30. Curry, returning from about as severe a broken hand as can be remembered in the NBA, will turn 32 later this month. This was a wasted season on the back end of their primes. The mental break was relaxing, but next season is already starting to feel urgent before even arriving.
It’s still eight months away, though, an entire summer of vacationing and offseason of roster-tweaking away. Until then, enjoy 20 low-stress, Curry-infused NBA exhibition games, starting against the Raptors on Thursday night.
About time!!! 😂 pic.twitter.com/yVs6r4UTZI
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) March 5, 2020
(Photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
Anthony Slater is a senior writer covering the Golden State Warriors for The Athletic. He's covered the NBA for a decade. Previously, he reported on the Oklahoma City Thunder for The Oklahoman. Follow Anthony on Twitter @anthonyVslater
