Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors reacts to an officials call during a game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum on December 13, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Bucks defeated the Warriors 128-111. (Getty Images via AFP)
WASHINGTON – Four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry said Friday he was relieved that he won’t need surgery on his partially dislocated left shoulder, but had no timetable for his return.
Curry suffered the injury when he tried to make a steal during the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors’ 125-119 loss at Indiana on Wednesday.
An MRI on Thursday showed the extent of the damage and confirmed he would not need an operation to repair the shoulder.
“From what I know about shoulder injuries and situations like that, avoiding surgery is great news,” Curry said.
“I’ll try to figure out how to get pain-free quickly, get the strength back and work my way back into it appropriately.”
The 34-year-old superstar guard, a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, said he would have missed at least the remainder of the season if surgery had been required.
“Surgery would have been four to six months,” Curry said. “Nobody was trying to deal with that right now.”
Curry will be sidelined indefinitely as he prepares for rehabilitation work to begin once his shoulder no longer hurts.
“I’ve just got to trust the plan we have and do my work,” Curry said.
“There’s a couple guys I’ve seen that had a little bit more severe cases, their timelines. You kind of do your guesswork,” Curry said. “You try to stay away, me mentally, from how long it’s going to be because (the injury) will let me know.”
Regarding the possibility of surgery on the shoulder after the season, Curry said, “It will let me know if that’s necessary or not.”
Having been through injuries before, notably left hand surgery in 2019, Curry is familiar with what must be done.
“Once you get pain-free, you work on getting your mobility, range of motion back, strength back and all that and get back to basketball,” Curry said. “Once you hurt something like this it becomes a little more unstable. Just trying to manage it as much as possible.”
Warriors 2-13 on road
The Warriors were off to a 14-15 start to stand 10th in the Western Conference when they lost Curry, who led Golden State with 30.0 points and 6.8 assists a game and ranked second with 6.6 rebounds per contest.
“It’s a matter of other guys stepping up,” Curry said. “Every team goes through something like this during the year, dealing with injuries, your main guys being out. You’ve got to figure out how to perform and embrace the challenge.
“I’m confident in the guys we have on this team to figure it out.”
The Warriors are a woeful 2-13 on the road, with the second-fewest wins away from home and level for the most road losses.
“This is a very important stretch because you want to maintain as much positivity and belief in what we’re doing as possible and give ourselves a chance to finish the year strong,” Curry said.
Asked if it was important the Warriors manage a .500 mark during his absence, Curry was matter-of-fact about Golden State’s road troubles.
“That’s always a good soundbite because it gives you something to key on,” Curry said. “But where we’re at, we just want to win a road game.”