One of the things Stephen Curry prides himself on the most is his discipline. The Warriors superstar, however, just received the first flagrant foul in his 17-year NBA career. In 1193 games played across 17 years, Curry had never received a flagrant foul before tonight. But it wasn’t for an aggressive play.
Stephen Curry returned tonight after missing three consecutive games due to illness to face the defending champions, the Thunder. Near the end of the first quarter itself, the foul was assessed on him for a reckless closeout on Isiah Joe of the Thunder at the three-point line.
Steph received the first flagrant foul of his NBA career for this 😬 pic.twitter.com/o5K3msehQq
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 12, 2025
The rule of the officials having the discretion to deem reckless closeouts as a flagrant foul one coincidentally also began with the involvement of the Warriors. In 2017, during the Western Conference Finals, it was Zaza Pachulia’s foul on Kawhi Leonard that began the discourse about keeping the shooter safe from injury.
Subsequently, in this game, the Thunder pulled away in the second quarter of the game and pushed their lead to 19 points as they ended the first half 63-44 in their favor. Following this, it seems the Warriors gave up.
Both Curry and Jimmy Butler seemed to be on a minutes restriction tonight as they both played under 22 minutes on a night when their offensive production was needed the most.
While Butler being on a minutes restriction is understandable, as he’s coming off a back injury. But Curry is coming off an illness, so his playing only 20 minutes tonight seems to hint that the Warriors gave up early in this game.
The Thunder ensured to consistently maintain their gap in the second half as the game ended 126-102 in their favor. After the game, Steve Kerr reflected on Curry’s performance in the game, which was only 11 points, with one rebound and one steal, while going 4-of-13 from the field.
“It’s great to see him out there. Didn’t surprise me that he wasn’t sharp. He hasn’t done anything in a week other than a couple of workouts the last few days. So, glad to have him back obviously, and glad that he could get his feet wet. Hopefully, he’ll find his rhythm soon.”
Curry is probably just rusty from getting a three-game rest in the middle of the season. This will likely be one of those off-day, bad games for Curry, and he’ll eventually bounce back to form. The Warriors are now a .500 team (6-6 record for the season in the first 12 games) as they move on to face the Spurs on Wednesday night, in a back-to-back set of games for the franchise.
