For the first time since injuring his left shoulder in Wednesday's game against the Indiana Pacers, Warriors superstar spoke to the media after Friday's shootaround in Philadelphia.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic shared video of Curry's press conference, as Steph said he was happy to avoid surgery, which would have been a 4-6 month recovery. In other words, the Warriors dodged the bullet of a potentially season-ending injury.
"From what I know about shoulder injuries and situations like that, anytime you can avoid surgery or anything like that, it's great news," Curry said. "Trust the process – no pun intended on where we are – on trying to figure out how to get pain-free quickly and get strength back and work your way back into it appropriately. It's interesting because it's the first time I've done it. Those usually take a little longer than if this was a recurring thing."
Curry said he's not able to do any basketball activities yet as his shoulder heals up with time.
"It's nothing right now, it's just letting it settle," Curry said. "Once you get pain-free, you work on getting your mobility and your range of motion back, your strength back and all that, then get back to basketball activities after that. The back end should be quicker than the front end, is what I've been told."
Despite a report from Adrian Wojnarowski that Curry would be a out a "few weeks" and The Athletic's Shams Charania reporting that Curry will be re-evaluated in two weeks, Steph said he doesn't have an idea about his return date.
"Hard to say because it's first time I've done it," Curry said.
Steph broke his hand four games deep into the hellish 2019-20 season, coming back for one game before the campaign was shut down due to COVID. Curry thinks he'll have to reconsider the possibility of surgery once this season is over. At the least, the injury isn't on his shooting hand.
"Just trying to manage it as much as possible, whenever I come back the rest of the year," Curry said. "But knowing it is the left, kinda fortunate in that respect. Kinda the same thing when I broke my hand. "
The Warriors' Curry-free journey will start Friday night against Joel Embiid and the 76ers. Klay Thompson (left knee soreness) and Draymond Green (right quad contusion) are listed as questionable while Andrew Wiggins will miss his sixth straight game with an adductor strain. It could be slim pickins in the rotation for coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors, who are trying to get back to .500 with a win.
Golden State needs Donte DiVincenzo to keep up his recent run of strong play, while Jordan Poole and Ty Jerome will need to be playmakers. Youngsters like Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and James Wiseman also figure to see increased minutes to make up for Steph and Wiggins being out.
