A 10–21 record. That’s the harsh reality the Golden State Warriors have endured without Stephen Curry. But after weeks of frustration and uncertainty, the franchise has finally taken a step toward bringing its leader back. The Warriors have continued to drop games with Curry sidelined for nearly two months, struggling to find rhythm without their veteran guard. However, there are now signs of progress in his recovery.

According to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area, Curry is close to rejoining team practices in the coming days and is expected to be re-evaluated next week when the team returns home from its current road trip. Meanwhile, Anthony Slater reports that while Curry is likely to miss the next two games, his return timeline is beginning to take shape—even if the exact moment he steps back on the court remains uncertain.

The four-time champion has been on the sidelines since January 30 as he suffered from a patella-femoral pain syndrome and bone bruising in his right knee.

The upcoming games against the Atlanta Hawks and the Dallas Mavericks will be the 21st and 22nd games that he will miss due to his knee issue. If he returns against the Nets on Wednesday, right after his re-evaluation, then the veteran guard will have ten games to get back in shape heading into the play-in tournament.

The Warriors started the season as legitimate contenders, but as the season went on, it was clear the Dubs had a season defined by injuries. They earlier lost Butler for the rest of the season to a ruptured ACL, and now Curry has missed almost two months of action.

In between, they have had various injury issues, ranging from concerns about Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, Will Richard, Moses Moody, and even Draymond Green, who has missed a few games due to back soreness and injury management. It has been rough for head coach Steve Kerr, so much so that he has had selection issues in some games.

However, the road from here doesn’t get any easier for the Dubs. They find themselves stuck in another play-in tournament and will need all their resources to advance to the playoffs.

The road will only get tougher for the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry

The Golden State Warriors have clearly not held their own without their star players. They have won only twice in their last 10 games. That, too, was one of their wins against the struggling Washington Wizards. The other one, though, was an impressive overtime win over a full-strength Houston Rockets.

These struggles are no coincidence amid Curry’s prolonged absence. Without their offensive engine and ultimate gravity creator, the Warriors’ spacing collapses: defenses pack the paint, limiting driving lanes and interior scoring while forcing contested perimeter shots.

In Friday’s 115-101 road loss to Detroit – a game where the Pistons outscored Golden State 74-44 in the paint despite their own three-point woes, the Warriors turned the ball over 26 times, leading to 32 opponent points and saw their three-point shooting plummet as role players lacked the off-ball movement and creation Curry provides to generate open looks and collapse help defense.

The 2-8 record in their last 10 games directly reflects this dependency, proving why the team has hovered around .500 or worse without him and why his return timeline remains a pivotal factor in salvaging any playoff push.

However, despite their recent struggles, the Warriors have secured their play-in tournament spot with no risk of dropping any further. They will instead look to push ahead and chase the eighth-place Portland Trail Blazers, a team 1.5 games ahead of the Dubs. Even if they advance to the playoffs, they will play either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs, which reduces Curry’s incentive to return this season.

This stems from the Warriors’ precarious position: firmly entrenched in the play-in tournament (likely as the 9th or 10th seed in the Western Conference), even a successful play-in run would almost certainly pit them against either the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, a young, elite defensive juggernaut with home-court dominance, or the rising San Antonio Spurs, powered by Victor Wembanyama and a strong supporting cast.

Both represent nightmare first-round matchups for an injury-riddled, aging Warriors roster that has already lost Jimmy Butler this season with an ACL injury and remains heavily dependent on Curry’s presence.

With a deep postseason run appearing improbable and the risk of re-aggravating his patella-femoral pain syndrome and bone bruise high for a 38-year-old star, the medical and competitive calculus favors caution over a likely short, painful series exit.

But for now, Curry’s return would be a major boost for Steve Kerr’s men. The 38-year-old guard, who received his 12th All-Star nod this season, is averaging 27.2 points, 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game on 46.8/39.1/93.1 shooting splits across 39 appearances. The veteran star would be the last throw of the dice for the Warriors in a season filled with injuries and struggles.