The Warriors avoided the worst-case scenario with Stephen Curry, but the update still delivers a blow to a team trying to claw its way out of mediocrity. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Golden State expects Curry to miss about a week, possibly a little more, after suffering a right quad contusion in Wednesday’s loss to the Houston Rockets. The injury is not considered serious, but his return depends on how the quad responds to treatment over the next several days.
For the Warriors, the timing could not be tougher. The next stretch on the schedule is loaded: the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, and the Philadelphia Sixers on Thursday. If Curry needs extra time to recover, the back-to-back next weekend against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls could also be at risk.
Golden State is already threading a thin line at 10-10. Missing their engine for even a handful of games threatens to push them further down the standings.
The injury itself looked painful. Curry tried to play through the issue after colliding with Amen Thompson in the fourth quarter, but his limp became more pronounced on every possession. In the final thirty seconds, down only five, he stood up from the bench and immediately realized he couldn’t even sit comfortably. That’s when he made the slow, painful walk back to the locker room, clearly in too much agony to finish the game.
He struggled even before the limp took over, finishing with 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting and just 2-of-9 from three. Golden State blew a 14-point lead and fell 104-100, their fourth loss in five games. For a team that already lost Gary Payton II earlier in the night, Curry’s exit felt like the final gut punch.
After the game, Steve Kerr admitted he was relieved when he heard the injury was a quad issue. He also noted that the team will get an MRI to be safe, but emphasized they’ll need to ‘hold down the fort’ while Curry recovers. At 37, Curry isn’t the same physical force he once was, and Golden State has been cautious about handling injuries with him in recent years.
But the deeper concern is what Curry’s absence exposes. The Warriors are average right now, Kerr said it himself. Their defense has cratered, Draymond Green called the team ‘soft,’ and Jimmy Butler publicly questioned the group’s urgency.
Nothing about the Warriors’ season has looked stable. They can’t afford to lose Curry for long. He’s averaging 28.6 points, propping up an offense that leans on him more heavily than ever. Every game he misses pushes Golden State toward a harder conversation about who they are and where they’re headed.
The good news is Curry avoided serious damage. The tough news is the Warriors need more than luck to stay afloat. If they don’t find a way to win without him, the standings won’t wait for their star to heal.
