Stephen Curry is the question hanging over Sunday night’s game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers, and the answer is not spelled out in the injury-report discussion that has framed the matchup. What is clear is that the Warriors walk in with momentum and the Clippers walk in short-handed, making Curry’s status the detail everyone is looking for before tipoff.
The search is happening now because the game lands on Sunday night, when the Warriors are trying to extend a three-game winning streak that followed an 0-3 start. Those wins came against the Nuggets, the Timberwolves and the Lakers, and they have changed the tone around Golden State in a hurry. The Clippers, meanwhile, are on a four-game losing streak and are managing a long list of absences that has stretched their roster thin.
Brandon Ingram, Bradley Beal, Jordan Miller, Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Max Strus are all set to miss their sixth straight game of the season. Ingram had offseason heel surgery, and a partial Achilles tear was found during that procedure in May. Strus suffered a right plantar fascia tear in the preseason opener. Niederhauser is coming back from Lisfranc surgery and has missed the last seven months, while Miller is expected to remain out until the new year. Beal is dealing with pain in his right knee.
That leaves the Clippers leaning on Keaton Wagler and Gradey Dick, two names expected to help keep the rotation together. It also makes Curry’s availability more important, because the game already carries the shape of a matchup between a surging team and a depleted one. The missing piece is still the same one that brought readers to the question in the first place: whether Curry is actually in uniform tonight.
If he plays, the Warriors’ three-game run gets a major boost against an opponent already weakened by injuries. If he does not, the spotlight shifts back to whether Golden State can keep rolling without the player who defines its ceiling. Either way, Sunday night’s game is set up to answer more than one question.
