The Golden State Warriors won’t be at their full potential until at least the second round of the upcoming playoffs.
Coach Steve Kerr announced that Steph Curry will miss the opening round of the postseason after he was diagnosed with a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee on Saturday.
The Warriors were cautious with any definitive timeline for his return in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s MRI, and Kerr confirmed the two-time MVP wouldn’t be available in the first round. The playoffs start on April 14, and the Warriors are all but locked into the No. 2 seed, 4.5 games behind Houston.
“There’s no way he’s playing in the first round,” Kerr said ahead of Sunday’s game against Utah. “There’s no way. He’s being re-evaluated in three weeks, so we gotta be ready to play without him and see how he’s coming along.
“The good thing is we’ve been through this,” Kerr said. “We went through it last year with KD. … There’s a lot of similarities here. We should feel good about our abilities to play through this stuff, and we also know that Steph has a history of coming back strong from injury. So there’s a good chance, if all goes well, he comes back during the playoffs at some point and we’re at full steam. That’s the goal.”
Curry suffered a Grade 1 MCL sprain in the first round of the 2016 playoffs ultimately missing just four games.
Curry returned on Friday against Atlanta after missing the previous six games with a lingering right ankle injury. He injured his left knee when Warriors center JaVale McGee came down hard on a defensive sequence.
SOURCE: USA Today Sports
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