Getty/Ezra Shaw Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors celebrates with teammate Jordan Poole after a stoppage in the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Chase Center.
Golden State Warrior fans must have been giddy with the latest Steph Curry update on his status for this weekend’s playoff opener against the Denver Nuggets.
The Athletics’ Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported during April 14’s Warriors practice that Curry was on track to make his return this Saturday, April 16, as long as he did not suffer any setbacks.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry (foot) is on track to make his return in Game 1 vs. Nuggets on Saturday as long as he clears team’s scrimmage today without issues, sources tell me and @anthonyVslater.
April 14’s practice marked the first official scrimmage Curry took part in with his teammates. Per usual, Curry was the last player in the gym and he spent 40 minutes after practice just shooting.
Afterwards, Curry talked with reporters for 30 minutes on his process and how he felt going into the postseason.
“You deal with an injury,” Curry talks about the rehab process. “You want to make sure you’re kinda over the living factors of how you move, and what the pain is like. Then you worry about conditioning wise, and rhythm wise. Figure out what else is left to get to 100%, and everything has just been positive in terms of getting back out there and understanding I’ll be ready to play when that time is—I’m hoping its Saturday. Having missed a little bit of time now before, obviously I’ve been thru this before so I have higher confidence to go out there and help my team win.”
Curry admits pain tolerance is something that he will have to deal with as he gears up for the playoffs. He admitted he hates questions about how close one was to 100% because at this juncture of the season, that just isn’t realistic to be pain free.
“There’s a little bit of pain or discomfort,” Curry admits. “But you get cleared to play, and at that point there’s no time to really worry about that. Are you gonna help the team win? Are you going to be able to make an impact do what you do? I feel like if the answer is yes, then that means I’m ready to play.”
Steph Curry said there remains discomfort in his foot, but he doesn’t need to be 100%.
“When you get cleared to play, there’s no time to really worry about that. Are you gonna help the team win? Are you gonna make an impact? If I feel like the answer is yes, I’m ready to play.”
When Curry suffered the injury against the Boston Celtics on March 16, nobody was quite sure how long it would take for him to get back on the court. Curry acknowledges it was not until recently where he felt he could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel in regards to his rehab.
“Saturday [April 9], this past weekend, when the guys were in San Antonio, Curry says. “I stayed back and got some work in, and was able to extend how much time I could be on the floor—doing workouts, intensity.”
Steph Curry Isn’t Out of the Woods Yet with His Foot Injury
As optimistic as Curry’s update sounds, there is always the possibility of reinjuring his foot. The two-time MVP has suffered many injuries throughout his illustrious career, but he encountered something for the first time with this particular foot ailment.
“It’s weird because this is the first injury that [for the first] two and a half weeks, I literally couldn’t do anything on my feet…you have to be conscious on how much pounding you put on it, because the healing process was on the front end, and now it’s about trying to catch up and get ready to play, and obviously not just play a game, but a playoff game.”
Earlier in his career, Curry would try to work around timetables that doctors and trainers would set for him and risk reinjuring himself. Now that he is wise and older, he understands that he needs to trust the process and follow the doctors as best as he can.
In regards to the bone bruise—something that came up new in the last press release—Curry talks about how time was the only way for it to heal, because it could flare up quite easily if not treated properly.
“There’s nothing you can do about it [bone bruise]. It just takes time. That’s the one that—from what I understand—can linger if you don’t handle it properly, especially early in the process. Everything’s stable, everything’s fine. If you aren’t far enough in the recovery process that’s where it can become more of a problem in terms of that nag over time. Hopefully come Saturday, I can put it behind me”
Curry Will Be on Minutes Restriction in Return
Obviously, with how finnicky foot injuries can be, the Warriors will opt to bring back Curry gradually. When asked about the number of minutes the coaching staff was aiming for, head coach Steve Kerr could not put a number on it, but gave a number he knew that Curry would not reach.
“I don’t know what the number is, but he’s not playing 30, 35 minutes,” Kerr said.
Steph is feeling “optimistic” he’ll play in Game 1.
If he returns, Kerr says he’ll be on a minutes restriction:
This set up a follow up question in regards to Curry maybe coming off the bench to stagger his minutes, so he could be within the minutes restriction come crunch time at the end. Kerr jokingly responded that it was probably not likely.
“Yeah, that was when I was young and dumb. Now I’m just old and dumb.”