The Golden State Warriors are trying to get to opening night with enough bodies to field a real rotation, and now they’re sweating Stephen Curry too.
Curry limped off the floor during Sunday’s open practice at Chase Center, adding another layer of concern for a team that is already staring at a massive injury pileup before the season even starts. He was favoring the right knee that kept him out for 27 straight games late last season, after being diagnosed with “runner's knee,” a problem that will need to be managed in the final years of his career.
That’s the last thing Golden State can afford with the Los Angeles Lakers coming up Wednesday night. Without the 12x All-Star, the Warriors would be extremely thin against Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and company, and the margin for error would shrink fast.
The injury situation around Curry is only part of a much bigger mess. Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody are still working back from long-term knee injuries, while Kristaps Porzingis remains out with the same mysterious illness that kept him out of training camp and preseason.
If Curry has to sit against the Lakers, Golden State would have more than $150 million on the bench. The NBA salary cap this season is just over $10 million higher than that at $165 million.
For a team already viewed by many as a Play-In squad even with Curry available, any missed time from the 38-year-old changes the picture in a hurry. Golden State closed last season on an 8-19 run after the All-Star break, and the outlook could get uglier this time around.
The league’s new draft lottery reform also changes the way bottom teams operate, and lower-seeded clubs typically still push early in the season. That makes the Warriors’ opening stretch even more precarious.
Golden State opens against the Lakers on Wednesday, then plays Memphis on Saturday and Phoenix on Sunday to finish out the first week.
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