Steph Curry Gives Honest Take on Knee Injury Return After Scrimmage

Stephen Curry wants to return from his knee injury soon, and he cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday by taking part in a five-on-five scrimmage.

But Curry isn't guaranteeing that he'll be back on the court for an NBA game in the next week.

"It felt great," Curry told ESPN's Anthony Slater after the scrimmage. "I'm checking the boxes. But with this, it's always unpredictable because I don't know how the knee will respond because it hasn't responded well in the past attempts to get to this five-on-five level. I'm right where I need to be for right now and I'm hoping that it continues until the weekend."

Curry has missed the last 25 games with runner's knee. He's already been ruled out for Wednesday's game against the Spurs, and this quote essentially confirms he will not play on Thursday against the Cavaliers.

That means the earliest he could return is Sunday's game against the Rockets.

Kerr Comments on Steph's Return Timetable

Steve Kerr said on 95.7 The Game's Willard and Dibs show that Curry "looked good" when scrimmaging.

“Today was a good day. Watching Steph (Curry) scrimmage after our practice ... he got out on the floor and played 5-on-5 and looked good. So we’ll take it day-by-day.”

Kerr later added that he wouldn't rule out a return on Sunday.

Kerr also told reporters, "Gotta see how [his body] responds to the scrimmage and we'll take it from there."

Expert Cautions That Knee Issue Could Flare Up

Dr. Nirav Pandya, a UCSF orthopedic surgery professor, wrote on X that this type of knee injury return can be volatile.

"The other issue to monitor is how the knee responds to several days of intensive activity," Pandya wrote. "It can feel great after 1-2 scrimmages but the return to high level NBA basketball games can cause symptoms to flare back up."

The "shut him down" crowd will surely point to this quote as evidence the Warriors are being reckless.

The Athletic's Nick Friedell said on 95.7 The Game that Curry has a lot of say in this decision.

"The [Warriors] organization as a whole feels like Steph has earned the right to do whatever he'd like to do," Friedell said. "If he's cleared and he's feeling fine, I don't think anybody is going to sit there and say, 'No, no, Steph. It's just not worth it.'"

Friedell added: "I don't think there is a single person from Lacob on down that's going to stand in his way."

The Warriors are 10th in the Western Conference. If they don't move up the standings, they will have to win two road games in the play-tournament to become the eighth seed, which would likely result in them playing the defending champion Thunder in the first round.