A nagging knee issue has sidelined Steph Curry for 11 games and will keep him out for at least the next four.
The Warriors enter Wednesday as the No. 8 playoff seed in the Western Conference standings. They are 6.0 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 6 seed and 7.5 games ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 11, seemingly destining Golden State into the NBA play-in tournament.
With little perceivable reward in the standings for a quick return, many think the team should shut Curry down for the remainder of the regular season.
General manager Mike Dunleavy told the SF Standard’s Tim Kawakami on “The TK Show” that he would be surprised if the Warriors star was held out until the play-in tournament but acknowledged it’s a possibility.
“It would be very, very surprising,” Dunleavy told Kawakami. “But, you know, I’m not going to rule anything out; I’m not a doctor, and things can go a certain way. So, I don’t want the headline to be Steph may be done for the year because I’m not ruling it out, but just because he’s not playing right now, I just have to acknowledge that I’m sure there’s a chance, but we don’t expect that.”
Dunleavy hedges by not making any promises that are out of his control. Nevertheless, his statement indicates that holding the Warriors’ superstar out until the Play-In tournament in mid-April would not be an ideal course.
The balance between injury management and competitiveness is different at this point in the season.
“I think we look at that differently than a middle of the season back-to-back,” Dunleavy explained. “This is a competitive thing. This gets us into the tournament, so we’re going to do everything possible to get all of our guys back ready for if it’s a play-in game or a second play-in game, whatever it may be.
“We’ve been there before. We’ve done this play-in tournament. We know how it works. It’s like an NCAA feel, right? It’s do-or-die and we have a great group that we’ve won some, we haven’t won some, but we’ll do everything we can to get everybody back for it.”
Beyond the play-in tournament and whatever postseason run materializes for the Warriors, the impending offseason looms large for Dunleavy and company.
While Curry has been nursing his knee, new acquisition Kristaps Porziņģis has been absent as well. The 7-foot-3 Latvian has played just one game since the Warriors acquired him via trade on Feb. 5.
In order to chart a proper course for the offseason, Dunleavy needs Porziņģis on the court to evaluate his fit on the team. Seeing the new Warriors stretch-big alongside the nucleus of their team is even more important for that evaluation.
“We definitely need him out there. We want to see him out there,” Dunleavy said of Porziņģis. “Same thing for Steph, too, right? We need him to get back as well. So, the clock is ticking in general.
“We’re approaching the last quarter of the season here. The race is on, and the sooner we get these guys back, the better.”
There are plenty of arguments to be made for and against Curry returning to play. But the star’s return alongside Porziņģis would be most ideal for Dunleavy.