Though the Golden State Warriors have pretty much ran through the NBA the last few seasons, this campaign brings unique challenges along with it. Aside from the increase in super-teams rearing to take down Golden State, the Warriors have already had to right through some injury issues as well.
Star forward Kevin Durant missed time with a banged up thigh while others have been in and out of the lineups on occasion. Adding to that list now is 2-time MVP Stephen Curry.
Curry used to have one of the most problematic injury histories in the league but has remained mostly healthy recently. However, Curry recently banged up his already fragile ankle in a recent game against the Pelicans. Though the injury looked scary at first, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reveals the guard has a sprained ankle and will be re-evaluated within the next couple weeks:
Golden State guard Steph Curry's right ankle sprain will be re-evaluated in "a couple of weeks," league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 5, 2017
With how well Curry has maintained his health recently, you hope this most recent ankle scare is just a bump in the road instead of the start of another trend. When Steph missed significant time early on in his career, he was almost always sidelined due to a nagging ankle issue.
With the NBA season heading quickly for its middle point, losing Curry is not what the Warriors needed, especially with the elevated play of teams such as the Rockets and Celtics. Stephen Curry was posting per-game averages of 26.3 points per game while handing out 6.6 assists prior to the injury.
That kind of production will obviously be hard to replicate but the Warriors have plenty of stars to carry the load offensively. Though it’s hard to predict who will enter the starting lineup, the likeliest candidate would be Shaun Livingston with an increase in minutes for guards Patrick McCaw, Nick Young, and perhaps even Quinn Cook.
