SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry sounds optimistic he won’t need to miss too much time after the All-Star break.
For the first time since injuring his leg on Feb. 4 against the Dallas Mavericks, the Warriors superstar spoke to the media before Monday night's game against the Washington Wizards.
“A little ways away from (basketball-related activities),” Curry said. “Every day has gotten better. It’s a slow kinda process early, letting everything settle and letting the healing process start. The goal right now is just to try and let it heal while you maintain your strength and conditioning, keeping everything as active as possible around the injury. Hopefully soon, I can get back on the court and start doing basketball stuff and slowly build from there.”
Steph said the recovery time on this injury is more unpredictable than his shoulder injury from earlier this season that kept him out 11 games. Asked if he’ll miss a “chunk” of games after the All-Star break, Curry kept his prediction light.
“Well I don’t know how you define a chunk,” Curry said. “But, yeah, I won’t be playing against the Lakers the first game back. … After the All-Star break I’m gonna hopefully get back on the court and depending on how things go from there, we can start to key in on a specific date to get back.”
Technically, Curry suffered partial tears to his superior tibiofibular ligaments and interosseous membrane as well as a contusion to his left lower leg. At first, Steph thought it was just a normal bruise after colliding with Mavs guard McKinley Wright on a drive, but he soon felt it was something else.
“It was a pretty big knock that kinda jolted the bone and the ligaments in there and all the terms that I didn’t know existed before,” Curry said. “Because my foot was planted, there was a lot of weight on it and the force of the impact was a little more serious than I wanted it to be. At first, it felt like it was a normal contusion, just a real serious one. I thought I could just shake it off, but then I got up from the bench and felt something different.”
Curry was spotted lifting weights with his leg during Friday’s practice and has been riding a bike to stay fit, but told reporters he hasn’t been able to get back on the floor yet with his teammates. Golden State said it will re-evaluate Curry once the team returns from the All-Star break.
Monday’s contest marked the fourth that Curry has missed since his injury, as the first game of the “second half” will be on Feb. 23 at the Los Angeles Lakers.
“You don’t know how long it’ll take for it to get truly healed for you to get back out there,” Curry said. “It’s not something you can play through if it’s not healed.”
In the days since Curry was injured, the Warriors have re-acquired Gary Payton II. The two were spotted on the Golden State bench Monday in street clothes, but the Warriors are eager to see them both back on the court in the coming weeks. The Warriors will re-evaluate GP2 in a month.
“He knows our system and he knows how to find his spots,” Curry said. “Offensively and defensively, he’s built a strong identity around being a pest out there, no matter who he’s guarding, just making them uncomfortable. … He can plug a lot of holes for us. I know we have to wait a little longer than everybody expected, but that’s the optimism if we can just get to that full-team opportunity.”
