If all goes according to plan, Stephen Curry will play in his first game in nearly a month on Saturday, when the Warriors open their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the Nuggets.
Curry has been out since March 16 with a sprained ligament and bone bruise suffered against the Celtics. On Friday, coach Steve Kerr said his star point guard is considered “probable” for Saturday’s game when asked for an update. He was also asked whether Curry would be on a minutes limit if he plays.
“We’re listing him as probable, everything’s gone really well so we expect him to play. See how he’s feeling tomorrow but coming off the absence and the injury, the only thing I’ll say is that he’s not playing 38 minutes. I’m not going to give you a number because there are some variables involved.
“We’re planning on playing him if everything goes well, and bring him along slowly from there.”
Kerr says that there are no specific milestones that Curry has to hit to play on Saturday, and that the training staff has discretion to clear him to play.
Golden State (53–29) has the No. 3 seed, while Denver (48–34) is in the No. 6 spot.
The team really struggled in the immediate aftermath of Curry’s injury, going 1–7 in the eight games beginning with the Celtics game that he left. The team bounced back to win five straight entering the postseason.
In 64 regular season games, Curry averaged 25.5 points and 6.3 assists, shooting 38% from three-point range on the year, nearly 10 percentage points below his career mark of 42.8%.
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