Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has spent most of his NBA career testing the limits of what his body can sustain.
At 38, the challenge is changing.
Curry missed nearly half of last season because of injuries, including an extended absence caused by patellofemoral pain syndrome — commonly known as runner’s knee — in his right knee. Now, as the Warriors prepare for another season built around their franchise star, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole says the issue has not disappeared entirely.
“There’s at least some lingering concern about the knee,” Poole said on the “Dubs Talk” podcast. “From what I’ve been told, it can be managed, but it has to be managed and that’s a new thing for Steph.”
That distinction matters for a Warriors team whose margin for error is already thin.
Curry played only 43 games last season, averaging 26.6 points, 4.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 39.3% from 3-point range.
Stephen Curry’s Knee Will Require New Kind of Management
Curry’s conditioning has long been one of the defining traits of his career.
Poole noted that the two-time MVP has routinely been described as one of the NBA’s best-conditioned players, making this kind of maintenance unfamiliar territory.
“People always say he is the most conditioned guy in the league, and now he has to manage a knee,” Poole said.
The encouraging part is that Curry and his training staff have spent the offseason preparing for exactly that.
“From what I understand, he and his trainers have devised ways to kind of work around that and sort of support that whole possibility of the knee not being as great as he wants it to be,” Poole said.
The Warriors will not need Curry to prove anything in October.
They need him available in April.
The schedule will not make managing him any easier. Golden State is slated for 15 back-to-back sets in 2026-27, above the league average of 14.2 and just one shy of the NBA-high 16. Four of those sets arrive within the Warriors’ first 16 games, creating an immediate workload-management question for a 38-year-old star still dealing with a knee condition that Poole says requires attention.
That likely means Golden State will be more deliberate with Curry’s workload, particularly given a schedule that offers little relief to one of the NBA’s oldest cores.
The Warriors still are leaning heavily on Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, all of whom are 36 or older.
Warriors’ 38-Year-Old Star Believes He Can Play 70-Plus Games
For all the concern, Poole said Curry remains optimistic about how much he can play.
“Steph seems pretty confident that he’ll be able to go out there and put out 70-plus games,” Poole said.
That would represent a dramatic increase from last season.
Curry has reached 70 games only once in the past seven seasons, playing 74 in 2023-24. Getting anywhere near that range at age 38, one year after a chronic knee issue interrupted his season, would be significant.
It would also materially change Golden State’s outlook.
A 70-game Curry season would give the Warriors something they rarely had last year: continuity.
More importantly, it would reduce the pressure on a roster that still depends heavily on his gravity and shot creation. Golden State can survive occasional absences. It is much harder to survive extended stretches without Curry while also managing the workloads of Butler and Green.
Knee Question Arrives During Curry Extension Wait
The health discussion also arrives at an interesting moment in Curry’s career.
He became extension-eligible Aug. 29, but neither side appears to be operating with urgency.
“There’s no question I want to be here the rest of my career, and I’m pretty sure that’s going to happen,” Curry recently told NBC Sports Bay Area.
As for the timing?
“The deal and the contract stuff will happen at the right time,” he said.
Golden State has expressed the same confidence. General manager Mike Dunleavy has said he expects Curry to finish his career with the Warriors, regardless of whether an extension is completed before the season or later.
For now, the more immediate question is not how many years Curry’s next contract will cover.
It is how many nights his knee will allow him to play.
Poole’s reporting offers both sides of that equation: the issue still requires attention, but Curry believes 70-plus games remains realistic.
With 15 back-to-backs staring at one of the league’s oldest stars, the Warriors may have to be selective about how they get him there.
For Golden State, 70 healthy Curry games would be worth far more than 82 forced ones.
Warriors Get Stephen Curry Knee Update With 70-Game Projection