Report: 'Cautious Optimism' Steph Curry Returns from Injury by This Date

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Wednesday that there is "cautious optimism" that Stephen Curry will return to the court by the end of the month.

The Warriors' last game of March is on March 29 against the Denver Nuggets, so Shams' report implies he'll be back by then.

Curry has been doing individual workouts, but he hasn't been practicing with the team. He suffered the runner's knee injury on Jan. 30 against the Pistons.

He's missed Golden State's last 18 games. The Warriors are 6-12 in that stretch, and overall they are 10-19 without him this season.

Could Curry Be Back Before March 29?

Let's take a look at the Warriors' upcoming schedule to guess when Curry will return.

3/18 @ Boston: Already ruled out
3/20 @ Detroit
3/21 @ Atlanta: Will be officially re-evaluated before this game
3/23 @ Dallas
3/25 vs. Brooklyn
3/27 vs. Washington
3/29 @ Denver

The way the Warriors operate is the player needs to complete a practice with the team before returning. So my guess is Curry will not be ready to practice until after he is re-evaluated on March 21. If the re-evaluation goes well, he could practice on March 22 and be ready to play on March 23.

This is all to say that Curry's return timetable is likely somewhere between March 23 and March 29.

Curry's Return Could Vault Warriors Up West Standings

The Warriors are 33-35 with difficult road games against the Celtics, Pistons and Hawks up next. It would be not be surprising if they lose all three. Even if they do, they'll have 11 games left to make up the ground for the eighth spot in the Western Conference standings.

That spot currently belongs to the Clippers (34-34). Superstar Kawhi Leonard suffered an ankle injury on Saturday and missed Monday's loss to the Spurs. He's questionable to play Wednesday against the Pelicans.

Elsewhere, the Blazers (33-36) have the easiest remaining schedule in the league, so they will be a factor for the eighth spot. But keep in mind that Shaedon Sharpe has been out with a calf injury for Portland's last 17 games, and his return doesn't seem imminent.

The Blazers have gone 9-8 without him in that stretch, mostly beating tanking teams and losing to good teams. Their season-long net rating of minus-2.1 suggests they are the worst of the three teams.

Basketball Reference's projection model has the Clippers finishing with 42.2 wins, the Warriors finishing with 40.5 wins and the Blazers finishing with 39.9 wins.