Warriors Star Stephen Curry to Return Thursday vs. Raptors
Stephen Curry will make his long-awaited return to NBA action on Thursday when Golden State hosts the Raptors, the team announced Wednesday.
The game will represent a rematch of the 2019 NBA Finals, though both teams are now without arguably their best players from last season with Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard having moved on.
""This has been a long, long haul for Steph," head coach Steve Kerr told 95.7 The Game on Wednesday. "He loves playing so much. I'm happy for us, I'm happy for out fans, but I'm happiest for Steph because he's going to be back playing basketball and doing what he loves."
Curry underwent surgery for his broken left hand on Nov. 1 after colliding with Suns center Aron Baynes while driving to the rim two nights earlier.
He immediately grabbed his left wrist after Baynes landed on top of him. The team confirmed after the Oct. 30 game that Curry broke his hand. He missed 58 games following the surgery.
On Feb. 22, Curry participated in a scrimmage for the first time since the fall.
"It feels good," Curry said after his first practice back. "It's been a long three and a half plus months, whatever it is. Just trying to understand all the different checkpoints I had to try and get through to get to this point and then what's left. But this is the fun part, I guess, where you get to actually play basketball and worry about what happens in between the lines and not so much the specific rehab parts. It's nice to get out there with my guys and play and keep moving forward."
While the Warriors have struggled in both Curry and Klay Thompson's absence, Kerr had previously said that sitting Curry for the remainder of the season had "never been a question" if the guard returned to full strength.
In four games played before injuring his hand, Curry averaged 20.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists.
Golden State enters Wednesday night's action with a league-worst 14-48 record.
Tipoff for Raptors-Warriors is set for 10:30 p.m. ET.