Why the Warriors are downplaying Stephen Curry’s mysterious knee injury

Stephen Curry he has not played since January 30, when Golden State Warriors lost 131-124 to the Detroit Pistons. Not only was Steph dealing with some midseason knee discomfort, but he didn’t look right after a botched layup attempt in the third quarter of this game. Curry left the game not looking like himself and was late ruled out due to right knee pain.

As of this point, the Warriors were 2-3 without their leader and expected him to be ready to go for the All-Star break after his extended absence. However, the head coach Steve Kerr revealed on Wednesday night that Steph will not play on Thursday against the Boston Celtics coming off the break, and it’s possible he could get another MRI to determine the exact nature of the knee pain.

“Steph didn’t practice today,” Kerr told reporters in San Francisco, via ClutchPoints’ Kenzo Fukuda . “Our training staff will reevaluate him tonight, but he just wasn’t where he needed to be to get through the scrimmage. It’s a shame, but we’ll have an update tomorrow when he spends time with the coaching staff.”

Curry worked behind the scenes and during the All-Star break to try to get back on the floor for the Warriors, but the pain in his knee persisted and he didn’t feel he was ready to go through a full practice.

Warriors continue to play down Stephen Curry’s knee injury

During the last three weeks, Curry was on the Warriors’ injury report with right patellofemoral pain syndrome, also known as runner’s knee, which usually needs extended rest days and time to heal. Initially, the team listed Curry as day-to-day with a knee injury.

Friday will mark exactly three weeks since the injury.

Despite Kerr’s troubling announcement on Wednesday and Curry missed Thursday’s game against the Celtics, The Warriors continued to downplay Steph’s knee ailment. The organization doesn’t see this as a major issue heading into the final stretch of the regular season, and the situation has been described as one the franchise is operating with an abundance of caution, team sources told ClutchPoints.

With already existing Warriors without Jimmy Butler for the rest of the year and because they were not where they hoped in the standings, there is no room for error. That’s why Golden State is being extremely cautious with Curry and will continue to wait until he’s 100 percent before returning to the court.

Even so, Curry’s knee health for the rest of the season is not a concern at this point for the Warriors, and sources say he would play if the playoffs started today.

As the Warriors prepare for the end of the regular season, they are 29-26 overall, three full games behind the Phoenix Suns for the No. 7 seed in the West. Although the Dubs are still battling injury issues and hovering around .500 on the year, the organization remains optimistic about their chances of competing for a 6 seed or better in the Western Conference.

With six games remaining against those currently in the top four of the Western standings, there are plenty of opportunities for Golden State to prove themselves as a counter threat this season. Butler may be sidelined with an ACL injury, but the Warriors will get their first look at Kristaps Porzingis when he makes his debut Thursday against Boston.

As for Curry, he will continue to rehab his knee and hope to be back sooner rather than later. At this point, there is no clear timetable for when he will actually return, simply because this is a pain tolerance injury based on his overall knee strength.

The Warriors understand that their playoff hopes are solely dependent on Curry’s overall health, which is why they won’t be rushing back to action.

In 39 games this season, Curry is averaging 27.2 points and 4.8 assists while shooting 46.8 percent from the floor and 39.1 percent from 3-point range. He again leads the league in both 3-pointers (4.5) and 3-point attempts (11.5) per game.

Thursday night will mark Curry’s 17th absence of the season, meaning he will officially be ineligible for end-of-season honors after missing one more game.