SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry finally received the medical green light to compete in a five-on-five scrimmage Tuesday afternoon, the latest and largest step toward a potential return for his persistent right knee injury.
“It felt great,” Curry told ESPN 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 will miss his 26th and 27th consecutive games on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs and Thursday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. His next feasible chance to return will come on Sunday night at home against the Houston Rockets, if he continues to advance through an increased workload.
“Gotta see how [his body] responds to the scrimmage and we’ll take it from there,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Curry first felt pain and swelling in his right knee after a workout in Minneapolis on Jan. 24. After playing through it a few games, Curry left the Warriors’ home loss to the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 30 in the third quarter and hasn’t been on the floor since.
There was initial optimism he would be able to return directly after the All-Star break, but Curry’s knee didn’t react well to on-court work during All-Star weekend in Los Angeles and Curry told the medical staff he wasn’t ready for live work in the team’s first practice back.
Rick Celebrini, the franchise’s lead medical decision maker, has maintained caution in the weeks since, holding off Curry from getting in contact work in team settings, limiting his training sessions to the weight room and individual training.
Curry tried to get the green light last week for a scrimmage, but Celebrini held off until Tuesday morning, finally clearing Curry to get in a five-on-five setting against other young players and coaches.
Third-year forward Gui Santos said Curry looked sharp in practice and, after speaking with reporters, he planned to go watch Curry’s scrimmage. Kerr said the gym was “bouncier” and everyone’s “spirits were lifted” with Curry’s on-court presence.
The Warriors are currently 36-39, having lost 16 of their last 25 games without Curry. They’re in the 10th seed in the Western Conference, stuck in the bottom side of the play-in bracket.
Their internal hope is to get Curry back in time to give him a “runway” of games in advance of the play-in week, needing him to win two elimination games to push into the playoffs as the eighth seed.
