The Golden State Warriors just got some series-altering news, as Stephen Curry will miss at least a week with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, the team announced Wednesday. The update means Curry will be sidelined at least through Game 4 of the Warriors’ second-round playoff series against the Timberwolves. Game 4 is scheduled for Monday, May 12. The exact return timeline for Curry is unclear and will depend on how he heals with treatment. He was hurt in the Warriors’ Game 1 win in Minnesota on Tuesday night.
The Warriors-Wolves schedule sees the teams play every other day for the first five games of the series, but there are three days off between Game 5 (May 14) and Game 6 (May 18). Curry’s injury is a significant loss for the Warriors, who stole Game 1 on the road Tuesday night. Curry exited in the second quarter and did not return.
“We’re definitely game-planning for him to not be available on Thursday, but we don’t know yet,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Tuesday’s game. “With a hamstring, it’s hard to imagine that he would play Thursday.”
Curry got off to a fast start with 13 points in his first 13 minutes in a game the Warriors went on to win by 11 points. After hitting a 3 on one end, Curry appeared to suffer the injury on defense. He managed to stay in the game and hit another push shot on Golden State’s next trip down the floor, but then he asked out of the game and went straight to the locker room with a noticeable limp.
Here’s a look at what happened:
“I talked to him at halftime. He’s obviously crushed,” Kerr said of Curry. “The guys picked him up and played a great game. And obviously we’re all concerned about Steph, but it’s part of the game. Guys get hurt, you move on. Our guys did a great job of moving on and getting a great win 48 hours after a Game 7 road win. It’s an amazing group of guys. They compete. They’re together. They’ve been the best defense in the league since the Jimmy trade and that’s what’s keeping us afloat right now.”
Even up 1-0, the Warriors are still underdogs (+176 to win the series at FanDuel) against the Wolves. They will hope that he can return later in the series, but Tuesday’s game was their sixth game in 11 days after a rock fight of a seven-game series in the first round with the Houston Rockets. The Rockets were extremely physical with Curry, who is 37 years old. These things add up.
The Warriors will certainly need to lean more on Jimmy Butler as the series continues. Butler finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists on 20 shots in Game 1, and he has one of the best postseason pedigrees in basketball after leading the Heat to the Finals in 2020 and 2023.
“Jimmy’s capable of carrying a team,” Draymond Green said. “He carried a team to the Finals twice. We won’t panic.”
The Warriors have a surprisingly strong playoff record without Curry. They are 9-3 without him in the playoffs as he missed six games in 2016 and six more in 2018 with knee injuries.
