Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said superstar guard Stephen Curry is unlikely to return from an ankle injury for Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
While speaking to reporters, Kerr said, “I don’t expect him to play,” in reference to Curry:
Curry suffered a sprained right ankle late in last Thursday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski subsequently reported that while he was likely to miss some time, Curry was not expected to miss “many games.”
Following the injury, Curry missed a loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday and a win over the Spurs on Monday.
The two-time MVP has been the only consistently positive contributor in an up-and-down season for the Warriors. He’s averaging 26.9 points, 4.9 three-pointers made, 4.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 44.9 percent from the floor and 40.7 percent from beyond the arc.
The Warriors have seen Klay Thompson struggle with inconsistency, Andrew Wiggins’ performance fall apart and Draymond Green spend part of the season suspended because of his conduct. They have found their game lately, though, winning 15 of their past 21 contests, bringing their record to 34-30.
That puts the Warriors in 10th place in the Western Conference, which is the final spot in the postseason play-in tournament.
Golden State is in no imminent danger of falling out of that position, but every game Curry misses will make it tougher to move up the standings.
If Curry does not play Wednesday, his next chance to suit up will be Saturday’s road game against the ninth-place Los Angeles Lakers.