On Friday morning, former Warriors sideline reporter and current NBA writer for Bleacher Report Ric Bucher, published a very surprising tidbit regarding Stephen Curry in a lengthy Warriors column:
His lengthy absence is not borne merely from being cautious with the franchise’s best player. A team source says the fracture was worse than originally thought, and it’s unlikely that he plays again this season.
If true, this is a far cry from the Warriors’ official statement that said Curry, who is out with a broken bone in his left hand, would be re-evaluated in February. It would also mean that the Warriors would likely be without both Curry and Klay Thompson for the entire season, putting Golden State in full tank mode.
It didn’t take long for the Warriors to categorically refute the statement, via Logan Murdock:
Warriors are strongly refuting the report that Stephen Curry be out for the season. Source says his timeline hasn’t changed for better or worse and he will be re-evaluated in February as planned.
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) November 8, 2019
This in turn led to a clarification by Bucher, who tweeted that Curry would be held out because by the time he’d be healthy, there would be no competitive reason for him to return.
A clarification from my story today citing a source saying Steph Curry is likely to miss the remainder of the season: while the injury was worse than originally thought, he wouldn’t play again this season because there’s no competitive reason. Story is being updated.
— Ric Bucher (@RicBucher) November 8, 2019
Unless Steph’s injury is much worse than originally thought, this is all relatively moot. The Warriors aren’t going to make the playoffs this year regardless of when Curry returns.
More likely, the Warriors are sensitive of being as accurate as possible regarding injuries this season after last year’s Kevin Durant debacle.