Warriors star Stephen Curry sustained a Grade 2 sprain of his left MCL and will be re-evaluated in three weeks, ESPN reported Saturday afternoon, citing an unidentified league source.
He could return near the start of the NBA playoffs, which begin April 14, according to ESPN, which added, "All in all, good news for the Warriors."
NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski described the injury as similar to the one Curry suffered in 2016, "an MCL sprain that cost him approximately two weeks beginning with Game 4 of a first-round series with Houston."
Curry was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam Saturday on the left knee injury he suffered Friday night in his first game back from a sprained right ankle, the team announced.
Some initially took it as a positive sign that the Warriors described the injury as a "strain" and not a more severe sprain.
However, in subsequently announcing that Curry would undergo the MRI exam, it called the injury a "left MCL sprain."
Curry was noticeably hobbled after a play in which teammate JaVale McGee fell into him in the third quarter of a road win over the Hawks..
“We’re all hoping for the best,” point guard Quinn Cook said (via the San Francisco Chronicle). “After everything he’s gone through, that was tough to see him go down like that.”
With only 10 games to play in the regular season, the Warriors are most eager to have Curry at full strength for the playoffs.
The Warriors essentially are locked into the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed behind the Rockets, thus giving them the opportunity to rest Curry as much as needed without worrying about affecting their playoff positioning.
