As if the Golden State Warriors‘ 2022-23 season wasn’t already a hot mess, the team suddenly faces the prospect of playing without Stephen Curry for multiple weeks. During Wednesday’s bout with the Indiana Pacers, the eight-time suffered a freak shoulder injury while attempting to pry the ball from Jalen Smith. Now, the scuffling Dubs will have to figure out how to win without him for a while
Make no mistake — things could definitely be worse; Steph could’ve been lost for the rest of the year with a major injury. Instead, imaging confirmed that he had suffered a shoulder subluxation, something he should be able to come back from this season.
Considering how much Golden State was struggling with Curry in the lineup and playing at an MVP clip, though, the concern level has reached new heights in the Bay.
On Friday, Curry addressed the media for the first time since his injury occurred. In so doing, the baller made it known that the setback could have long-lasting effects.
Steph Curry Says That Managing the Injury Will Be a Season-Long Process
Curry was clear during his presser that he and the team were incredibly fortunate in avoiding some major problems. The baller noted that he would have been out four-to-six months if surgery was required right now. Steph was also thankful that it was his left arm and not his right that was hurt.
More than anything right now, he’s trying to maintain the right mindset as the injury and rehab processes begin to play themselves out.
“Just trying to stay positive and understand I’ll be back sooner than later, hopefully. And hopefully, I won’t miss a beat in terms of the rest of my body and my game with how I’ve been playing.”
However, Curry also made it clear that his shoulder wouldn’t be back to 100% after just a few weeks. Once he returns, it will continue to be something that has to be cared for, monitored and even rested.
“One thing I do know is once you hurt something like this, it becomes a little bit more unstable; there’s nothing you can really do about that unless you are going to get surgery,” Curry lamented. “Just trying to manage it as much as possible whenever I do come back the rest of the year.”
What’s more, even as surgery was deemed unnecessary at this point in time, Steph stopped well short of declaring that he would never need it. Again, his shoulder will just have to be monitored and reevaluated as the days and weeks unfold.
“Not right now,” he said of going under the knife. “It’ll let me know if it’s necessary or not.”
Curry Was Having One of His Best-Ever Seasons Before the Shoulder Injury
At the time of his injury, Steph was well on his way to putting up another eye-popping line for the Dubs, having scored 38 points on 11-of-19 shooting with seven boards and seven assists through three quarters. But that’s just the kind of year he has been having.
Through 26 appearances, Curry is averaging 30.0 points, 6.8 assists, 6.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game while shooting an even 50.0% from the floor and 43.4% from three-point range. As of this writing, only he and Luka Doncic are logging 30-6-6 lines this season (and only eight players have done it in league history).
Per DraftKings Sportsbook, Steph was a +850 bet to capture MVP honors as of Tuesday. Now, those odds have plummeted all the way down to +2500.
“I’ve been playing as confident as ever,” Curry said of his performance this season. “Coming off that Covid year and all that, I feel like I’ve been in the best shape of my life. My body’s been able to be pretty resilient through that shortened season and then into last year and our playoff run and all that, picking up right where I left off this year.”
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Warriors’ Steph Curry Gives Troubling Update on His Injury