During a 121-110 loss to the Phoenix Suns, the Golden State Warriors also lost MVP Steph Curry after he suffered a broken hand after a nasty fall. Curry left the game Wednesday night, and a CT scan on Thursday will determine whether or not the hand injury requires surgery.
With less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Curry drove to the lane and was met by Aron Baynes. Curry fell and tried to brace his fall with his hands. Baynes fell on top of his left hand, which complicated his situation.
Curry immediately left the game and never returned. Warriors PR confirmed the severity of the injury by tweeting, “Steph Curry has a broken left hand.”
Curry led the Warriors in scoring with 24 points per game through the first three games of the season. He had 9 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds against the Suns when he went down with the hand injury.
“I feel bad for him,” said Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams. “When these guys who are the faces of the league go down, it’s not good for the league. Especially someone like Steph, who’s done so much to raise the level of excitement here in the Bay Area and throughout the league.”
“Aaron Baynes came up after the game and wanted to know how Steph was doing,” added Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “You could tell he felt really bad. It’s just a random basketball play, so stuff happens.”
In the meantime, Kerr will have to rely on newly acquired D’Angelo Russell plus rookies Jordan Poole and Eric Paschall to step up. Paschall scored 20 points in the loss to the Suns after Curry went down.
Bad Start for GSW
The 3.0 Warriors started the season on a down note with a 1-3 record. Losing Curry in the fourth game of the season wasn’t part of this year’s plan. The Warriors were already playing without Klay Thompson, who the Warriors lost for the entire season while recovering from ACL knee surgery.
The Warriors are now without Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets) and both of the Splash Brothers. Andre Iguodala is now in Memphis. Big man Kevin Looney missed all four games this season with a hamstring injury.
On Monday, the Warriors won their first game of the season. Curry dropped 26 points in a shootout against the Zion-less New Orleans Pelicans.
If Curry is out for an extended time with a broken hand, several Warriors fans suggested the team should tank to secure a top draft pick. When Curry and Thompson return next season, the fans say, Golden State can reboot their championship aspirations with the addition of a top rookie.
“I’m just telling you that the bottom line is. Not negative and I’m not going to get negative,” said team owner Joe Lacob. “I’m an optimist and we’re building something. You’re always looking short term and you’re looking intermediate term, and you’re looking long term. We’ve got a lot of good young players in place. Potentially, there’s a silver lining in all of this, who knows? And I’m very optimistic about our future. Very optimistic about our future.”
In the meantime, Kerr is tasked with bringing the fifth-youngest team in the league up to speed. The Warriors are banged up right now, and feature Draymond Green along with a bunch of lo-fi collegiate players like Willie Cauley-Stein and Alec Burks, with no fewer than nine players 23-years and younger.