{"id":1866701,"date":"2026-04-05T10:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1866701"},"modified":"2026-04-05T10:00:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:00:54","slug":"steph-curry-is-back-for-warriors-because-sitting-out-isnt-how-hes-built","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1866701","title":{"rendered":"Steph Curry is back for Warriors \u2014 because sitting out isn\u2019t how he\u2019s built"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Stephen Curry was never going to sit out the rest of this season if he was healthy.<\/p>\n

The freshly minted 38-year-old wasn\u2019t going to allow that to happen for two key reasons. First, he is proud of the standard\u00a0of winning he helped establish for the Golden State Warriors over the last 17 years. It\u2019s a standard he shares with longtime teammate, Draymond Green, and his longtime coach, Steve Kerr.<\/p>\n

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Together, along with former teammate Klay Thompson, now with the Dallas Mavericks, they built the standard and culture that has sustained this organization for over a decade. That culture carries a deep sense of pride, not just wearing a Warriors jersey, but what it represents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love playing basketball,\u201d Curry said after Saturday\u2019s practice. \u201cThat\u2019s what I get paid to do. So, if I\u2019m healthy to play and it\u2019s safe to go out there and test it in live action, all the work that I\u2019ve put in will hopefully pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr echoed Curry\u2019s line of thinking. When asked recently what he would say to a portion of the fan base calling for Curry to sit out the remainder of the season, the 60-year-old coach was direct.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, we\u2019re not doing that,\u201d Kerr told The Athletic <\/i>in March about shutting Curry down, even if healthy. \u201cSteph\u2019s gonna play again. He\u2019s trending in the right direction. This is not like an injury we\u2019re worried about affecting him long-term. And if it were, we\u2019d keep him out. But this is something that I trust the training staff on, I trust Steph on. If he\u2019s ready next week, he\u2019s gonna play next week. Because that\u2019s the job \u2014 and that\u2019s what we do. We compete, we play and we want to give ourselves a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time you have a chance to go to the playoffs, go to the frickin\u2019 playoffs. Because it\u2019s the whole point of what we\u2019re trying to do in this business \u2014\u00a0is win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that stance has its answer. Curry is expected to return to the lineup Sunday night against the Houston Rockets, ending a two-month absence because of a runner\u2019s knee injury.<\/p>\n

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That leads us to the second reason, one nearly as important as the culture itself. The reason he pushed so hard to come back is that he knows that his window is finite. While he isn\u2019t sure how much longer he wants to play, he knows his opportunities to play in meaningful games are dwindling.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur season\u2019s been different than we expected, but the fact that there is something to still play for, gives all of us a lot of confidence down the stretch to try to make something out of it and I want to be part of it,\u201d Curry said.<\/p>\n

Curry and Kerr have long shared the same mantra when it comes to competing. They\u2019re grateful for the opportunity they have to do what they do, and they enjoy the work that has gone into their respective careers that have brought them to this point. That mindset is at the core of why Kerr never doubted Curry would return as soon as he was healthy enough to do so. When asked about shutting down Curry, Kerr delivered a two-and-a-half-minute response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people need to understand what goes into winning,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cIt\u2019s a set of standards. It\u2019s a set of ideals and values \u2014 competing and working together, overcoming adversity. Because these are things that apply whether you\u2019re trying to get through the Play-In or you\u2019re trying to beat Cleveland in the finals in 2015. It\u2019s like it\u2019s not a matter of just showing up and rolling a ball out, it\u2019s a matter of building habits and building an identity and learning how to get through adversity, emotional issues. Every bit of this feeds into that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what we are doing at the end of this year is trying to show what we\u2019re about character-wise as a group. Organizationally, what we\u2019re about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curry returns to a team that has been locked into the Play-In Tournament for weeks. The Warriors have endured season-ending injuries to Jimmy Butler (torn ACL) and Moses Moody (left patellar tendon rupture), as well as a variety of injuries up and down the roster.<\/p>\n

On paper, the argument made by many fans is that the risk of bringing Curry back isn\u2019t worth the potential reward. The Warriors, as currently constructed, aren\u2019t talented enough, or healthy enough, to make a deep run in the postseason. But that argument goes against how this iteration of the organization came to prominence in the first place.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
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\n Stick to the blueprint or go all-in? Steph Curry, Draymond on Warriors\u2019 defining dilemma\n <\/div>\n
\n As Draymond Green and Steph Curry\u2019s clocks tick, one question hangs above Warriors: How far will they go for one more run?\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cYou just can\u2019t be a guy that quits when it gets tough,\u201d Green said after a recent win over the Brooklyn Nets. \u201cI\u2019ve had some incredible years here, been part of some incredible teams, banners, all that stuff. And it\u2019s great. And when that stuff is happening, you want to be at the forefront of it, you want to embrace it, enjoy it, all those things. Great. When it goes a little left, you can\u2019t jump off the train. You can\u2019t walk around and pout. You can\u2019t throw in the towel. Or what was everything you did before?\u201d<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s also another perspective: If the Warriors were to drop the first Play-In game, they would give themselves the chance, small as it may be, to improve their lottery odds, just like the Dallas Mavericks did en route to landing the No. 1 pick (and eventually Cooper Flagg) last year.<\/p>\n

But that line of thinking isn\u2019t something the Warriors have ever considered. That\u2019s not what has brought Curry, Kerr and Green to this point. They want to maintain the standard they\u2019ve created \u2014 even at the end of one of their toughest seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use a word around here all the time: front-runners,\u201d Green said. \u201cAnd I think one thing we did through our dominant run was take advantage of the front-runners. And I can\u2019t give that to these guys. Could I throw in the towel? Possibly. But what does that look like then for Gui Santos? Or what does that look like for Brandin Podziemski? You\u2019re talking (about someone) who\u2019s trying to build themselves a career. De\u2019Anthony Melton came back here after a year off, trying to build back to where he was. You can\u2019t just throw a towel in on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just not who I\u2019ve ever been, and it\u2019s not who I\u2019m gonna become.\u201d<\/p>\n

They believe in the work. It\u2019s what has made the Warriors the Warriors. <\/i>And it\u2019s why Curry was so intent on returning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe in values,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cI believe in competition and joy. I believe these last few weeks of the season, I want our team to show both. Because I think those things, finding that balance, really competing like crazy, enjoying the process, enjoying the games themselves, the players being thoroughly engaged, I believe all that leads to a winning culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you don\u2019t just suddenly abandon your values because everything looks hopeless. In fact, it\u2019s the opposite. You attack it. You lean into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr doubled down on those feelings after Saturday\u2019s practice, saying that Curry\u2019s return goes right to the heart of what the organization believes in. It\u2019s the culture that he and Curry have set for over a decade, and why both men feel so strongly about the 38-year-old returning in a season that lost its championship aspirations months ago.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt cuts to the core of what our business is about,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cWe want our fans to be really excited to come watch beautiful basketball. And nobody represents that more than Steph \u2026 We\u2019ve been able to play a really entertaining style and win championships. And frankly, Steph is responsible for more of that than anyone. He\u2019s one of the greatest players of all time, but he\u2019s the greatest face of a franchise in any sport that I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly why Curry is expected to be back on the floor on Sunday and not waiting for next season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Curry was never going to sit out the rest of this season if he was healthy. The freshly minted 38-year-old wasn\u2019t going to allow that to happen for two key reasons. First, he is proud of the standard\u00a0of winning he helped establish for the Golden State Warriors over the last 17 years. It\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1866701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1866701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1866701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1866701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1866701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}