Painful silence draped over the generally loud Chase Center. The Golden State Warriors’ nucleus, Stephen Curry, tried to set an off-ball screen in the fourth quarter against the Clippers. In doing so, he reacted by limping, rushing straight to the locker room. Just a quarter before the incident, the Splash Bro rolled the same left ankle while trying to jerk into space. Given the veteran’s history of ankle ailments, the widespread anxiety grew thick in the building.

Early in his career, Stephen Curry required two ankle surgeries to tackle a plague of injuries that threatened his career. Since then, he’s roughly stayed out of the danger zone, until today. A medical professional and injury analyst for 95.7 The Game, Dr. Nirav Pandya, took some time to examine the gravity of the injury. His update isn’t one that the Warriors fans will appreciate.

Sharing his immediate thoughts, Pandya deemed the procedures necessary for a team to conduct upon such an injury. It included an x-ray, and MRI because of Curry’s backlog with ankle ailments and then assessing his return to play.

That’s the plan Steve Kerr mentions the Warriors have in place to assess the injury. Luckily, after the game, Coach Kerr did provide a cooling update. The head coach had some conversation with the Splash Bro, who revealed he feels the injury could be a “mild or moderate” sprain. The golden words? “He doesn’t think it’s too bad.” The hooper had tried to return once, however, upon a 13-second repeat of his injury, the Warriors called it a left sprain and said he wouldn’t return to the game again.

As willful a decision as it was to get back on the floor for the Warriors, the Chef might have worsened the degree of his injury. According to Pandya, “The combination of 2 relatively quick foot/ankle “rolls” during a short time can exponentially increase the pain an athlete can experience while there is already a baseline level of irritation from the 1st injury.”

In another tweet, Pandya wrote, “Return to play (assuming no fractures) then comes down to resolution of pain/swelling, return of full mobility/strength, stability on exam, and the ability to perform basketball specific activities without pain.”

For now, Dub Nation will have their hearts in their mouths while also praying that Stephen Curry doesn’t have to remain on the sidelines for a long time.

Golden State Warriors fall apart without Stephen Curry on the court

Before having to walk off the floor because of his left ankle injury, the sharpshooter seemed on a path to being a potential closer for the Warriors. The Baby Face Assassin shot the ball well, compiling 18 points before his abrupt exit. The hopes of a comeback muted from that point on. Yet Andrew Wiggins, a ruthless forward, had one of his best games over the last few months.

He scored 29 points, only missing 4 shots on the night. However, with James Harden running the strings like he did when with the Rockets, the Clippers’ offense has revitalized. His court vision and playmaking, logging 11 assists contributed heavily to three players scoring 20+ points for the LA side.

The Beard’s scoring efficiency may have slightly waned. However, over the 3 games, he is now averaging 12 assists per game and working incredibly well with the shorthanded Clippers. They’ve improved to a 2-1 record for the season.

On the other hand, the Warriors lost their first game since the beginning of the preseason. 2 blowout wins did boost their confidence. Surprisingly, a Stephen Curry injury doesn’t seem to have rattled the locker room too much. “He’ll be alright,” his teammate Gary Payton II said after the game. But as much optimism settles in the building, there is obviously a growing fear, too. “Hopefully he doesn’t miss too many,” he added.

The last time he suffered an early setback limiting him to only 5 games in the 2019-20 campaign, the Warriors witnessed a steep decline. In the shortened season, they only won 15 of their 65 games, missing out on any postseason talk whatsoever. By the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like Stephen Curry or the Golden State Warriors are in for such levels of grim fate once again.