Nothing quite compares to NBA brothers living out the reality of playing alongside one another. It’s rare enough for a set of brothers to have a chance at the big leagues in basketball. But playing on the same team as your sibling is even more difficult.
Stephen and Seth Curry looked to join that prestigious club once Seth joined the Warriors last fall.
There was plenty of excitement surrounding the idea of the brothers teaming up. The joy was in part because of the history made as siblings, but also because the two complement each other’s games. Both prolific shooters, the three-point spacing Seth and Steph possess would help create room for each other on the court. Unfortunately, the Curry brothers have yet to share the floor, despite being over 60 games into the season.
The Currys Can’t Stay Healthy
Younger brother Seth, 35, agreed to a one-year deal with Golden State in September. The team waived him shortly after the season began to ensure they stayed under the second apron. He was reinstated into the team in November, once financial flexibility allowed the Warriors to sign him to a veteran’s minimum contract.
Seth has played in just two games thus far, both in December. The Duke alum shone in his Warriors debut, going 6-for-7 from the field and contributing 14 points. The team nearly pulled off the upset against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder without Steph, but struggled to close out the game late.
Steph missed that game, along with four others around that time, due to a quadricep contusion and muscle strain. The 37-year-old returned on Dec. 12 against the Timberwolves, but by that point, the injury bug had regained hold of Seth.
Since the last game Seth played on Dec. 4 in Philadelphia, he has yet to take the NBA court. He has continually battled a sciatic nerve issue, which has sidelined him for nearly three months.
We May Never See the Vision
On Feb. 18, the Warriors announced that Seth was progressing well in his recovery and would slowly ramp up.
With about 20 games left in the season, and Stephen Curry tending to a knee injury, the clock is ticking on the two to play together. Steph was initially slated to return sometime soon after the All-Star break, but suffered a setback during a workout.
“This is a weird one,” Curry said of his injury, which the team calls patellofemoral pain syndrome. “It’s kind of unpredictable how it will heal…Once I get back on the court, it’s a little bit of a pain tolerance thing. But it’s just something you don’t want lingering because it can get worse.”
The Warriors shouldn’t rush Steph back, especially given that a reaggravation could hinder him in the long run. The Dubs are in the midst of a dogfight for a playoff spot, fighting to stay afloat without their stars. They would love nothing more than an end-of-season surge like last year, after Jimmy Butler was acquired. The chances of a similar turnaround are unlikely now in the absence of their best players.
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. doesn’t anticipate Steph missing the remainder of the schedule, but won’t rule out the possibility.
“It would be very, very surprising,” Dunleavy told the SF’s Standard’s Tim Kawakami on “The TK Show.”
“But, you know, I’m not going to rule anything out; I’m not a doctor, and things can go a certain way.”
No Guarantees
Steph will be re-evaluated in about a week, while an update on Seth’s recovery is expected in the coming days.
At every chance it looked like they could play NBA minutes together, injuries derailed the opportunity. There is no guarantee that either Curry will return to play this season, let alone that they will be healthy at the same time.
There is still some hope that they will return before the end of the season. But they may have already run out of time.
Leave a comment