Stephen Curry left Wednesday’s game against the Houston Rockets in the first quarter and did not return after being ruled out with right abdominal soreness. He was holding his right side as he walked to the locker room, cutting short a night that ended almost as soon as it began.
The exit matters because Curry had opened the season at 30.6 points, 4.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game, and the Golden State Warriors had surged to an 8-3 start. Losing him even for one game changes everything for a team that has leaned on his scoring to stay near the top of the early standings.
Curry had hoped to enter his 18th season fully healthy after back-to-back seasons with 70-plus games played before last year, but that did not happen. He played in 43 games last season because of a lingering knee issue, missed the playoffs with the Golden State Warriors, suffered a right ankle sprain in practice on Oct. 18 and already sat out two of the Warriors’ first 11 games for rest amid back-to-back games.
The question now is not whether the soreness interrupted one night, but whether it points to something bigger. Right abdominal discomfort can be enough to shut a player down immediately because it affects twisting, reaching and the kind of explosive movement Curry uses on every possession, and the team has not said when he will be available again. That uncertainty hangs over a roster that also knows Jimmy Butler once played just 38 games before a season-ending torn ACL in January.
For now, the safest read is that Curry’s night ended because the Warriors could not risk turning a first-quarter problem into a longer one. What happens next will tell them whether this was a brief pause or the latest injury interruption in a season that was supposed to start with him healthy.
