Los Angeles: Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry will miss at least three weeks after suffering a sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks. An MRI revealed that Curry suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain, according to the team. He will be re-evaluated in three weeks, right around when the NBA playoffs are scheduled to begin on April 14. The 30-year-old was playing in his first game since missing six contests with an aggravation of a previous injury to his troublesome right ankle.
He appeared to have fully recovered from that injury, scoring 29 points in 25 minutes against the Hawks before teammate JaVale McGee fell back onto his left leg. “Kind of a strange, cruel twist of fate,” head coach Steve Kerr said after the game.
“He rehabs his ankle for the last couple weeks, he gets that strong and then the knee goes. So we’ll see what happens and we’ll keep our fingers crossed.” Kerr was asked about the team’s health problems, as three Warriors All-Stars were sidelined Friday even before Curry got injured.
Kevin Durant has fractured right rib cartilage, Klay Thompson has a broken right thumb and Draymond Green is nursing a pelvic contusion. “I definitely do not have an ominous feeling,” Kerr said. “I definitely feel like I’m disappointed for Steph, mostly, tonight. We’ll see how long he has to be out. We’ll have guys coming back in the next couple weeks, and we’ve got enough and we can push forward and we can win a lot of games and hopefully we get Steph back at some point.”
Curry missed 15 days during the 2016 playoffs with a Grade 1 MCL sprain, with the team going 4-2 in the six games he sat out.
Celtics Irving undergoes surgery
Boston Celtics star guard Kyrie Irving will miss the rest of the regular season and perhaps part of the postseason after undergoing surgery on his left knee on Saturday. The Celtics said Irving underwent a procedure in which a tension wire was removed from the troublesome knee.
The wire was initially placed in the knee as part of the surgery after Irving suffered a fractured kneecap during the 2015 NBA Finals. The team said Irving is expected to resume basketball activities in three to six weeks.
“While removal of the wire should relieve irritation it was causing in Irving’s patellar tendon, the fractured patella has fully healed and Irving’s knee has been found to be completely structurally sound,” the Celtics said in a statement.
Irving, who turned 26 on Friday, received a second opinion on the knee on Thursday and the team announced Friday that he would undergo surgery. Irving hasn’t played since departing at halftime of a March 11 game against the Indiana Pacers. Irving, a five-time All-Star, leads the Celtics in scoring (24.4 points per game) and assists (5.1).He has played in 60 games. Boston (48-23) stands 4 1/2 games behind the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors with 11 games remaining.
Stephen Curry
