Stephen Curry is expected to be out through the All-Star break in mid-February because of a left leg injury, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Golden State Warriors said Sunday that Curry has partial tears to the superior tibiofibular ligaments and the interosseous membrane and will miss Monday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but that “additional clarity on a potential timeline will be established in the coming days.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr stressed Sunday that the news could have been far worse.
“I didn’t know those ligaments existed,” Kerr said. “I think the main thing is he’s going to be out for a little bit. We’re going to reevaluate in a few days. And the good news is, he’s going to be back. We don’t exactly know when, but it’s not an injury that’s going to keep him out for the season. He’s going to come back this season and hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Curry was injured with 2 minutes, 1 second left in the third quarter of Saturday night’s 119-113 win over the Dallas Mavericks after his left knee collided with Dallas guard McKinley Wright IV‘s knee while Curry was defending him.
The Mavericks called a timeout, and Curry immediately limped to the bench, where he was met by two team trainers. They examined him throughout the timeout, and as players returned to the court to resume play, Curry limped back to the locker room. He received an X-ray, which came back negative, the team said Saturday.
Curry was later ruled out of the remainder of the game. He finished with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and seven assists.
Curry banged that same knee in the second half of Golden State’s game against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night. Kerr said Saturday night he wasn’t sure whether Curry’s injury against Dallas was impacted by that.
This would be the second extended absence for Curry this season. He missed 11 combined games in December and January because of a left shoulder subluxation. During that time, the Warriors went 6-5.
“We just got through a stretch without him … and held our own,” Kerr said Sunday. “We know we can hold our own now. We went through this last year when he missed, I think, the final 10 games of the season or so and obviously went on a great run in the playoffs. We have some experience with this, and we’re confident that we can keep things going and be where we want to be by the end of the year.”
Information from ESPN’s Kendra Andrews was used in this report.