Steph Curry Still Not Close to Returning As Warriors Slide Down Standings

The Warriors dropped to ninth place in the Western Conference standings earlier this week as Golden State was passed by the surging Clippers for eighth. Unfortunately for the Dubs, reinforcements are not coming anytime soon.

On Wednesday ESPN’s Anthony Slater and Shams Charania reported Steph Curry’s knee injury has persisted and the superstar will be reevaluated again in 10 days. That timeline rules him out for at least the next five Warriors games; Golden State is 32–33 on the year entering play Wednesday night.

Curry has been out since January with what the team described as “runner’s knee.” In an interview with ESPN a few weeks ago Curry described his recovery as “kind of unpredictable” and said it was a “weird injury.” He’s missed 15 games and counting while rehabbing, interrupting another All-Star campaign from the longtime Golden State star; prior to getting hurt Curry was averaging 27.7 points per game.

The Warriors desperately need him back. As noted above they dropped in the standings and fell below .500 this month with a 1–4 record in March thus far. Since Curry went down Golden State has won only five of 15 games. It’s not a surprise the team is worse off without the franchise’s marquee superstar but this roster in particular needs Curry to have a shot most nights given the injury to Jimmy Butler and the inconsistent availability of the Dubs’ key deadline acquisition, Kristaps Porziņģis.

The clock is ticking loudly on the 2025–26 season for the Warriors. Wednesday’s news was a tough blow for their hopes to turn their fortunes around in the near future.

How Curry’s continued absence affects Warriors’ playoff chances

The only good thing about the current situation in Golden State? It is incredibly unlikely the Dubs will fall out of the playoff picture entirely.

Entering Wednesday the Warriors owned a 1 1/2 game lead over the Trail Blazers for the final play-in spot. But after Portland there’s no team in the West within striking distance of the playoff picture; the Grizzlies are seven games back of the Blazers and are not at all interested in winning games down the stretch. It is so statistically unlikely that both Golden State loses enough games to fall to the 11th seed and Memphis wins enough to claim the 10th that it may as well be impossible. So Curry missing another handful of games doesn’t put his team at risk of missing the postseason.

However! It is very possible the Warriors could drop another seed after losing the eighth spot to the Clippers. As noted above the Blazers are right on their tail and boast the easiest strength of schedule remaining in the entire NBA. Golden State, conversely, is ranked 19th in that regard and faces a gauntlet in the games Curry will miss over the next 10 days; the Dubs are slated to take on four playoff teams, including the top three seeds in the East.

Entering the All-Star break it wasn’t unreasonable for the Warriors to believe they could break out of the play-in tournament entirely. But with Curry’s extended absence going on even longer it’s all the team can do to hang onto the ninth seed and at least get a home play-in tournament game.

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.