Stephen Curry will play again this season. That is not a question.
In fact, with the three-time NBA champion “perfectly healthy” after breaking his left hand just four games into the 2019-20 season and in the “prime of his career,” Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr believes that it would be a disservice to the team’s fans to shut him down for the rest of the season.
Per Dieter Kurtenbach of the Mercury News:
“He’s perfectly healthy. He’s in the prime of his career. If the point [of not playing him] is because he might get hurt, then what’s the point of ever playing anything?” Kerr said.
“I guess the argument would be, ‘Well, we’re not going to the playoffs.’ Are we not trying to entertain our fans? We’re selling tickets to all these people who love basketball, and Steph Curry is one of the most amazing, graceful, exciting basketball players on earth. If he were healthy and we didn’t present him to our fans and say, ‘Here you go, here’s your gift for staying with us for this whole season,’ what would that say about us?”
“As soon as he’s ready, he’s coming back. Our fans deserve it… It’s the right thing to do.”
With the Warriors in an unfamiliar position, sitting dead last in the NBA standings with a 12-43 record and often taking the court with more than a fair share of relatively unknown players, the fans have certainly stayed behind their team.
Per ESPN, the Warriors rank 16th in the NBA in average fan attendance at home (18,064), right behind the Houston Rockets (18,080). That’s maximum capacity for Chase Center and speaks volumes about the support that Golden State fans have given their currently-depleted team.
Curry is set to return around March 1.