Golden State Warriors: What to expect from Stephen Curry next year

The Golden State Warriors need a rejuvenated, two-time MVP-like Stephen Curry for the 2019-2020 season.

Without Kevin Durant in the 2019 Western Conference Finals, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry went off. He averaged over 35 points per game and won four-straight games, sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers.

They need that Curry next year.

The problem that could easily come back to life is his injury bug.

Curry’s had issues with his ankles and groin in the past. If that comes back to bite him, the Warriors will be heavily leaning on D’Angelo Russell to get the job done. While he should be able to, in a Western Conference that’s as deep as ever, it wouldn’t be easy.

As for Curry, if the injury bug stays away, what should we expect from him? Well, to be frank, the answer to this isn’t concrete. No one can predict the future, but what we do know is that Steph thrives as the team’s main scoring option.

With Durant on the court, the Dubs had arguably two of the league’s top-five scoring threats. Regardless of who was actually the better scorer while the two were on the court, the fact that two elite superstars needed the ball remained unchanged.

The 2019 playoffs was really the only stretch of play where Curry was without Durant over the last three-year stretch. However, it’s difficult to gauge those games because Curry’s volume minutes, averaging almost 40 minutes per game in the Western Conference Finals.

There was an 18-game stretch during the 2016-2017 season where Curry was the team’s main scoring option. Durant was injured. In those, Curry averaged 26.9 points, 7.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Give me that Curry and the Dubs will easily make the playoffs. However, since then, Curry’s aged three years and is now 31. He’ll turn 32 during the next season, and his age will eventually catch up to his motor.

Will he continue to want to play 32 minutes a night? They’ll need Curry at the top of his game in order to easily breeze to the postseason. They should get that but don’t expect 2015-2016 MVP Curry to come back anytime soon.