As if things couldn't get any worse for the Golden State Warriors, Moses Moody got injured in brutal fashion earlier this week against the Dallas Mavericks. He tore his patellar tendon, a major injury that ends his season and will cut into most of next season as well. After seeing that, the Warriors have to be thinking twice about bringing Stephen Curry back.
Sure, it was a freak non-contact injury but it was scary to see Moody go down like that and have to be taken off on a stretcher. This year's Warriors team just feels cursed with all of the bad luck it has experienced from Jimmy Butler's ACL tear to Curry's lingering knee issue.
Warriors have to be careful with Curry at all costs
Even though recent reports about Curry trending in the right direction are encouraging, it is still such a huge risk to bring him back when so little is on the line for the team. Yes, Golden State is guaranteed a Play-In game and is essentially locked in as the No. 10 seed, but is that enough to get Curry back out on the floor?
The risk probably outweighs any reward at this point. It would be fun to see Curry have a great performance, but at best the Warriors would probably just win one Play-In contest and then most likely lose the second game. Even if they won both games and made the playoffs, it's tough to see them being all that competitive in a seven-game series against the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs.
The competitor and showman in Curry will certainly want to be out there for the Play-In. He doesn't know how much longer he has left as an elite NBA player, so he'll want to take advantage of every big-stage moment he has left in his career. But maybe what is best for the team is for him to stay on the bench and rest up for next season.
There are practical reasons for Curry to come back and play. Seeing him and Kristaps Porzingis together on the floor will give the front office and coaching staff information as they decide whether to bring Porzingis back in the offseason. But even that may not be worth it at this point, especially since Porzingis can go down at any second with his lengthy injury history.
Injuries are a part of the game, but Moody going down in Dallas just really puts things in perspective that Curry coming back this year may not be the best move.