Stephen Curry turns 38 today, and he’ll celebrate the milestone watching from the sideline as his Golden State Warriors limp through a road trip without him. The four-time champion has now missed 16 consecutive games due to a nagging right knee injury, and according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater, the organization is prioritizing Curry’s long-term health over any hope of salvaging this season.
Golden State Warriors Taking Cautious Approach With Stephen Curry’s Injury
On “The Hoop Collective” podcast, Slater said Golden State harbors genuine concerns about rushing Curry back onto the court before he’s fully healed. The injury has been diagnosed as patellofemoral pain syndrome, commonly called runner’s knee, with accompanying bone bruising. Multiple MRIs have shown no structural damage, but the swelling and pain have proven stubborn.
“When he works out, including during All-Star weekend, it just hasn’t responded well. It’s swelling, it’s dull pain, it’s really kind of an overuse injury,” Slater said on the podcast. Jimmy Butler’s injury has further compounded the franchise’s struggles. Butler tore his ACL on Jan. 19 against his former team, the Miami Heat. That not only ended his season but also any realistic title hopes Golden State harbored.
According to Slater, the Warriors’ plans now revolve around next year, when both stars might be healthy together. “I think that if Jimmy Butler were around, and they were trying to, like, muscle their way into a top-four type seed, if it were a different type of situation with different realistic goals ahead of them this season, I think that they’d be throttling down a bit more,” the insider said.
“But next season has become the season in this final Steph era. I don’t think they want to jeopardize that at all. And this is, from what I gather, an injury that they fear. If you do put him back on the court and he’s not quite ready, he could re-injure it, re-aggravate, whatever you want to say,” he added.
Anthony Slater claims Warriors don’t want to ‘jeopardize’ Stephen Curry’s health next season pic.twitter.com/OghkmUsLYF
— BasketballMuse (@basketballmuse0) March 14, 2026
Curry last played Jan. 30 against Detroit and was initially expected to return after the All-Star break. Instead, his knee swelled during a workout that weekend, and the team has issued consecutive 10-day re-evaluation windows ever since. The latest one came on March 11. Curry has now missed 16 consecutive games, and the team is 5-11 in that stretch while sitting on a four-game losing streak.
With a 32-34 record, the Warriors are clinging to the ninth seed in the play-in picture. They begin a six-game road trip that features tough matchups against the Knicks, Celtics, Hawks, and Pistons.
Curry has been averaging 27.2 points, 4.8 assists, and 3.5 rebounds this season while shooting 46.8 percent from the field. The 12-time All-Star won’t be re-evaluated until around March 21, leaving just 11 regular-season games remaining, and any turnaround from that point will be nearly impossible. That precisely explains why the Warriors are treading carefully while saving Curry for one last genuine run.
