Inside The Warriors

Doctor Reacts to Latest Steph Curry Injury Update

Stanford Medicine's Dr. Todd Alamin broke down Steph Curry's latest injury update from the Golden State Warriors

Jeremy Lambert

Golden State Warriors superstar guard Steph Curry
Golden State Warriors superstar guard Steph Curry / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry left Thursday's game against the Toronto Raptors in the third quarter with an injury after taking a hard fall.

An MRI revealed Curry suffered a pelvic contusion but no structural damage. He will be re-evaluated on Monday.

Stanford Medicine's Dr. Todd Alamin told NBC Sports Bay Area, "So that's really good news. He landed directly on his tailbone, and the worry is that he might have a more significant injury to his tailbone such as a fracture or a dislocation of one of the joints within it.

"The fact that he had a contusion, which is basically a little bit of bleeding between the back of the bony part of the tailbone and the skin overlying it. It's a really good bit of news because it tells us it's more of a soft-tissue injury than a bone injury."

Though Curry exited Thursday's game and did not return, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr revealed Curry wanted to check back in after the injury.

"That's also a really good sign," said Dr. Alamin. "I think the team did exactly the right thing though in getting an MRI scan to really be able to understand the significance of his injury.

"Obviously he's a competitor and an incredible athlete, sometimes incredible athletes can do things that might not be great for them in the longer term. But with this knowledge, they'll be able to use how Steph is feeling to determine when he's able to get back to the game."

Dr. Alamin didn't have an exact timetable for Curry's return but is confident in the Warriors' ability to monitor and assess the injury.

"Well, it's a little variable from one person to the next. But soft tissue injuries like this can take a week to six weeks to heal. And it just sort of depends on how he feels," he said. "Again, I have not seen the imaging studies directly, but how significant the contusion was. I think he's going to have a pretty good sense as to when he's able to get back in.

"I think the [Warriors] training staff and the coaches will be able to have a pretty good idea of when it's safe to get him back based on how he's feeling and how he's moving around the court."

Curry missed five games at the end of the 2020-21 season due to a tailbone injury, but that is unlikely to play a role in his recent injury.

"The only situation we'd be worried about is a situation in which he broke his tailbone and then re-broke it, which clearly did not happen based on the information we have available," Dr. Alamin explained. "So, I think his previous injury and this one are not going to be affecting each other in any significant way, which is really good news."

When Curry does return to the court, Dr. Alamin isn't significantly concerned about re-injury or additional ailments.

"Although, clearly basketball players are susceptible to direct falls on their back, on their tailbone. These things happen in games. If it were to happen again, it might take longer to heal from a secondary episode if it was within, hard to say exactly, but two to six weeks of the original injury here that he has just had," he said.

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Jeremy Lambert
JEREMY LAMBERT

Jeremy is an avid OKC Thunder fan who has been writing about basketball, hockey, MMA, and pro wrestling for nearly two decades with bylines on Fightful, Fansided, and more.

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