Neither Steph Curry nor Draymond Green will suit up against the Rockets at the Chase Center on Thursday night, a major blow to the Warriors as they try to snap a five-game losing skid.
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Curry is listed as out with bilateral knee injury management; he missed a game last week for the same ailment, colloquially known as runner’s knee. Green, meanwhile, got an MRI on Wednesday in the Bay Area and will miss his second straight game with left calf tightness.
“This is what it’s going to be with our team at this point in Draymond and Steph’s respective careers,” head coach Steve Kerr said on Dec. 2. “Got to try to keep their minutes down the best we can, try to keep them healthy by being proactive. If they’re dealing with nagging injuries, like Steph’s knees last week and like Draymond’s calf now, we’ve got to manage it all.”
Thursday night will be the first time this season the Warriors have played without both Curry and Green. De’Anthony Melton, who underwent surgery on his partially torn ACL Wednesday in Los Angeles, is out for the season.
In describing his knee injury, Curry dismissed long-term concerns and said he’s thankful the training staff helped address the issue before it got worse. It seems like that is an ongoing process.
“It has the potential to be like a nagging-type thing if you don’t take care of it,” Curry, 36, said. “The deeper you get into your career, the more things pop up. Just got to figure it out.”
Part of the Warriors’ strategy with keeping Curry healthy is by stabilizing his minutes at 32 or fewer. For years, Kerr and the Warriors have kept the bigger picture in mind with Curry in an effort to keep him fresh for postseasons.
The Warriors are 3-1 in games without Curry this year, and 0-1 without Green — with the one loss being their most recent defeat to the Nuggets.
On his podcast, Green said that he feels the Warriors similarly are getting ahead of his calf injury. Still, he admitted to being afraid that some of the symptoms he feels are similar to the back issue that held him out for almost three months in 2022.
Entering Thursday’s contest, the Warriors have lost five straight games. The Rockets — coincidentally, Golden State’s NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup on Dec. 11 — rank second in the West and are hungry to prove themselves against the conference’s old guard.
Although Houston will be without Tari Eason (concussion protocol), they’re still a formidable foe as a fast-paced, athletic, defense-first group.
The Warriors are confident that they have the depth to withstand injuries, but no team is comfortable without its two best players. Curry and Green are undeniably that for Golden State, which makes Thursday night’s matchup — and perhaps also Minnesota the next night — a serious challenge.
