The Golden State Warriors announced on Monday that MVP guard Stephen Curry suffered a Grade 1 strain of the right MCL during the team's playoff win over the Houston Rockets.
Curry will now be evaluated again in two weeks, which is the benchmark regarding a potential return to the court.
With Golden State boasting a 3-1 series lead over the Houston Rockets heading into Game 5 on Wednesday, this isn't going to have a huge short-term impact on the Warriors.
In reality, if the two-week time frame is correct, Curry will likely miss a couple games in the next round — something that could lead to Golden State falling behind the proverbial eight-ball in the conference semifinals.
From a fantasy perspective, and over the short term, Shaun Livingston becomes a solid add in FanDuel contests.
Remember, Livingston started two games in Curry's stead earlier in the series when the likely two-time MVP was out with a separate ankle injury. In the two games that Livingston started for Curry, he averaged 16.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 59 percent from the field. When Curry went down in the second quarter on Sunday, Livingston responded by putting up nine points, five rebounds and nine assists. He's been a true stat filler in this series.
Longer-term ramifictions are clear here. Though, we simply can't give a good estimate regarding how Curry will impact the DFS world.
If the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers first-round series (currently tied at two) goes a full seven games, the earliest Golden State second-round series against the winner will start is May 3rd. That's the best-case scenario for the Warriors. That would give Curry a full week of rest, and a potential return in Game 2 or Game 3 of the conference semifinals.
Interestingly enough, Chris Paul suffered a broken right hand in the Clippers lost to Portland on Monday, meaning that' he's likely going to be out for the remainder of the playoffs (more on that in a different article).
Should the Clippers advance, it would likely be a battle of backup points guards with Austin Rivers going up against Livingston, at least initially.
There's nothing to really focus on here long-term. What we do want to stress is the importance of looking at playing Livingston come Wednesday. He's going to take on an added role with Curry out. In addition to this, both Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala will have to pick up the slack. Iggy is averaging 15.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists over the past three games. Meanwhile, Draymond Green is averaging 12.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game in the series.