Steph Curry’s return won’t save the season. But it might change the ending

Let’s be honest about something first.

When Stephen Curry left that January 30th game against Detroit with what we’d eventually learn was runner’s knee, the Warriors didn’t just lose their best player. They lost the arguments about playoff positioning, and optimistic projections about this team’s ceiling, because every reason to believe evaporated with him.

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Seventy-five days later, Steph Curry completed his first full practice in two months on Tuesday. Steve Kerr confirmed he’ll miss Wednesday’s game against San Antonio and is “doubtful” for Thursday against Cleveland, but you could hear it anyway. The man is coming back. Or at least… something close to him.

You don’t run 5-on-5 in April unless something inside the building believes he should come back. Now the real question hits: should he? And what exactly are we supposed to expect from it?

On the “should he” part, Curry answered that himself back on March 15th after Golden State dropped a 110-107 game at Madison Square Garden. “That’s not who we are,” he said. “If we have stuff to play for, we play. So, I’m working to get back.” That’s not bravado. That’s 38 years of competitive DNA refusing to negotiate. Curry has been pushing behind the scenes this entire time, hoping to get a rhythm before the Play-In tournament opens on April 15th. The training staff is the gatekeeper here, not sentiment, and they’ve apparently seen enough to let him scrimmage.

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So yes, he should play. The question is what that actually looks like.

The Warriors are sitting at 36-39, good enough (or trash enough) for tenth in the West. Close enough to see it, far enough to feel stupid for looking. They’re 23.5 games behind Oklahoma City’s terrifying 60-16 operation. A game behind Portland for ninth, with seven games left to prove it.

Here is where the age conversation gets complicated in ways the discourse usually refuses to engage with honestly. Curry before the injury wasn’t running on fumes. He was running on jet fuel, dismantling defenses that had spent years specifically designing schemes to contain him, finding a…

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Publish date : 2026-03-31 22:00:00

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