Stephen Curry's season of ankle injuries should be worrisome for Warriors, NBA future

Gabe Fernandez

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Stephen Curry's season of ankle injuries should be worrisome for Warriors, NBA future image

Stephen Curry suffered another injury to his right ankle Thursday during the Warriors' matchup against the Spurs, the fourth time he has injured that part of his body this season.

Most teams will suffer setbacks after losing their star player for any period of time, but Curry's latest injury goes beyond forcing coach Steve Kerr to make some lineup changes and schematic adjustments. Its true impact is how it removes the aura of invincibility the team has attempted to cultivate over the past season and a half.

It wasn't too long ago that the breakout sharpshooter from Davidson was considered a fragile commodity. Curry had surgery on his ankle in 2011 and 2012 after suffering numerous sprains throughout both of those seasons. A similar trend has been forming this season, too.

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Back then, the Warriors were able to use Curry's injury history as a basis for a heavily discounted second contract with the team that would serve as insurance against ankles that appeared to be made of glass. The bargain contract turned into the steal of the century when Curry grew into an elite NBA player and, more importantly, Golden State was able to afford the historically great roster that it fields today.

Now, the Warriors seem to be in a more precarious position, relatively speaking. Curry signed a five-year, $201 million contract in July, and has quickly risen to become the face — and most important player — of the franchise. The team has a lot riding on his health, and an injury at this point in the season isn't great if the Warriors want to catch the Rockets for the top seed in the West.

Let's make one thing clear: It's not like the Warriors are in danger of severely underachieving without Curry in their lineup, at least not this season. Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are still quite good and have gained plenty of experience without the two-time MVP — the closest thing to an upside that can be found with Curry's multiple injuries. Green was close to averaging a triple-double, Durant was up to nearly three blocks per game and Thompson's numbers continued to grow to the scale of the workload he had to shoulder on both sides of the floor.

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Curry's absence wouldn't even be the first time the Warriors have had to deal with a major injury to a star player. Last season's squad had the best record in the NBA while Durant — the second-best player in the league — was recovering from a leg injury he sustained a little over a month before the playoffs.

It was during that period Curry continued to further himself from the rest of his team in terms of overall importance. In the 29-game stretch Durant was out, Curry played well enough that some people even discussed the possibility of him being a dark horse MVP candidate. Durant hasn't quite made that leap.

That isn't an insult to the 2014 MVP. Durant as an individual player is significantly better and is a once-in-a-generation athletic talent (a 7-footer who could score and defend from almost anywhere on the court would probably be tried as a witch in the 1960s). But he just isn't the Warriors' most important player, and the stats back this up.

There's also an element of incredibly unscientific speculation to this. When players like Durant and LeBron James have great games, there's a part of the performance's greatness that is lost to expectation. We assume Durant will get at least a couple of blocks each game because he's a 7-footer. Of course LeBron will drive through two or three players for a tomahawk dunk because he's 6-8 and 250 pounds.

Curry's playing style doesn't allow for any expectations like that. Nobody is built to launch a 30-foot shot to win a game and act like it's a routine jumper, or dribble through an opponent's entire defense only to heave the ball up once the other team's star player has been thoroughly embarrassed. There's a bit of magic to almost every performance, and even though fans have seen Curry make a shot from nearly every corner of the court, he still continues to amaze.

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Unless he's your opponent. Then he continues to frustrate. Curry's presence alone forces defenses to adapt to him and only him. Teams can't play him too tight because he has the speed to blow right past you; they can't play him too loose because he'll pull up from anywhere; and they can't double-team him because he can just pass it to any of the other studs on his team.

Without him, the Warriors are no longer this mythic, unbeatable force. There's a phrase that says a team needs luck and talent in order to win a championship. Curry is Golden State's combination of talent and luck, personified, with his video-game-cheat-code-like abilities. The Warriors are still talented and great without him, but it's not the same.

This season's Rockets, for example, can go toe-to-toe with the Curry-less Warriors now that James Harden is playing at a runaway-MVP level, Clint Capela has turned into a more athletic Andre Drummond and Chris Paul is still putting up Chris Paul numbers on fewer minutes.

Still, that doesn't matter in the greater context of Curry's career. There is a dark and tragic history when it comes to star players suffering multiple injuries to the same body part, and with Curry's latest injury, he is moving dangerously close to joining that club, especially given the location of the injury. Orthopedic specialists often reserve ankle surgery as a last resort. Curry bounced back from two surgeries, but there's no telling what will happen with a third.

This era of the Warriors has begun — and will end — with Wardell Stephen Curry, meaning the preservation of this great dynasty depends on the care of that ankle.

Gabe Fernandez