Steve Kerr Says ‘There’s No Way’ Steph Curry Will Play In The Opening Round Of The Playoffs

Fans around the NBA all held their collective breaths on Friday night when Steph Curry went down with yet another leg injury after teammate JaVale McGee landed awkwardly on him. He left the game and did not return, and an MRI the following day revealed that he had suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain and would be re-evaluated in three weeks.

Despite Steve Kerr’s initial optimism that Golden State will be just fine as Curry rehabilitates this latest injury, the Warriors coach painted a somewhat more ominous picture of the situation on Sunday prior to their game against the Jazz when he told reporters that Curry would likely miss the entire opening round of the playoffs.

“No, there’s no way he’s playing in the first round. There’s no way,” Kerr said. “I mean, he’s being reevaluated in three weeks, so we’ve got to be ready to play without him and see how he’s coming along. The good thing is we’ve been through this. We went through it last year with KD. … It wasn’t the exact same timeline, but it was a similar injury and similar circumstances where we had to play without one of our best players. And we felt that appropriate fear and turned it up and got it going. Then when KD came back, Finals MVP after missing six weeks. There’s a lot of similarities here and I think we should feel good about our ability to play through this stuff. And we also know Steph has a history of coming back strong from injuries. There’s a good chance, all goes well, he comes back at some point during the playoffs and we’re at full steam. That’s our goal and that’s our plan.”

Indeed, the Warriors still boast a trio of All-Stars on their roster and will likely be okay without Curry in the lineup through the first round, but a nagging injury would certainly jeopardize any aspirations of winning back-to-back titles this spring, especially in light of the Houston Rockets’ ascendance as a Western Conference powerhouse. Just as concerning is the fact that those other three All-Stars are all also battling various ailments of their own, and the outlook may not be as rosy without Curry if that trio isn’t at full strength.

Curry never quite regained his MVP form in the 2016 playoffs after sustaining a similar injury and missing a significant chunk of the first two rounds of the postseason. The Warriors would go on to lost the title in seven games to the Cavs. For now, they’ll simply have to take a wait-and-see approach as Curry works to come back from this latest setback.