The Golden State Warriors aren’t a playoff contender without Stephen Curry

The Golden State Warriors need Stephen Curry to be healthy when the playoffs commence in April. Curry sprained his foot in a home loss to the Celtics on March 16 in what head coach Steve Kerr thought was a dangerous play by Marcus Smart.

The Warriors are 1-5 since then and are at risk of slipping further in the rankings. The problem with failing the last few weeks is that the Jazz or Mavericks are a tougher matchup for the Dubs than a team like Minnesota or Denver.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned since Stephen Curry sprained his foot, it’s that the Warriors are not a contender without the two-time MVP.

If Curry can’t get back to full strength, it may not matter though. The Warriors initially dropped from their top spot in the Western Conference due to a surging Suns, an organization that will prove to be the conference’s best regular-season team.

However, the drop below the Grizzlies was mainly due to Draymond Green’s back injury, although Curry’s heroics did keep them afloat.

Now, Curry’s injury may push them lower, especially with the Suns and Jazz on deck along with a Pelicans team that is looking at must-win games down the stretch. The Warriors are a game ahead of Dallas and 3 games ahead of Denver and Utah.

If anything, Dallas could jump the Warriors and then likely force an undesired matchup with the Jazz. The Dubs can lose all those games, and it would still be extremely improbable that they have to be in the play-in tournament.

Recent results show that Curry will be necessary for any type of postseason success wherever the team ends up.

The Warriors have a -6.5 net rating over their last 6 games and have the fourth-worst offensive rating. The lack of production from Curry just hasn’t been replaced by Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson. Green having yet to hit double figures since his return hasn’t helped either.

Andrew Wiggins’ second-half regression has been an important note as well, having not lived up to the All-Star starter status he earned earlier in the season. Wiggins has star potential, but he needs to step up in the near future.

All the Warriors’ pieces need to be clicking for the team to have a shot in the postseason, and without Curry, they are obviously a little lost.

Any postseason team would breeze through the Dubs without Curry, so his return, as we’ve seen over these past 6 games, is paramount to any postseason success.