Steph Curry Hand Injury: How it happened and what it means for the Golden State Warriors

When the Phoenix Suns flew into the Bay Area to clash against the ailing Golden State Warriors, nobody had any idea about the turn of events that would transpire in the scheduled 48 minutes.

Not only did Devin Booker and co. beat the hosts 121-110, they were leading by 34 at one point in the matchup. And to make matters worse for Coach Kerr, Stephen Curry injured his left hand in the 3rd quarter and did not return to shoot free throws, which automatically ruled him out for the rest of the game.

Incident that led to Steph Curry injury

During the 8:34 mark in the 3rd quarter, Steph tried to fly by Aron Baynes in the paint who was, in turn, positioning himself to draw a charge. This resulted in an awkward fall for the 2-time MVP, who used his left hand to break his descent. As Curry hit the deck, Baynes followed and ended up landing on Curry's left hand. The Warriors were down 54-83 when their marquee shooter was writhing in pain, holding his left hand.

Broken hand recovery time

After Curry headed to the locker room, he had an X-ray on the injured hand and the team announced that he has broken it. Further, it was reported by the team authorities that Steph will have a CT scan to ascertain if surgery is the next step, with a cast on his hand also being an option.

Usually, hand fractures like these take at least 3 weeks to heal back to normalcy. But in Curry's case, he might be absent for much longer than that, considering the possible ramifications of a hurried return.

Is Steph Curry right-handed?

Steph predominantly shoots with his right hand. There is no doubt that his handles will take a noticeable hit until his left hand heals to perfection. However, his shooting form shouldn't take a considerable hit. Nevertheless, the 31-year-old is expected to make a full recovery, given the proper time and conditioning.

Curry's expertise from long-range has never been overlooked and this particular setback is expected to bring no long-lasting tweaks to his original form and flow as well.

What does this mean for the Golden State Warriors?

Now that Curry is gone for the foreseeable future, the Warriors' coaching staff have a tall task facing them. The Dubs are 1-3 to start the season as they look to continue without Kevin Durant who left for Brooklyn, Klay Thompson, and Stephen Curry. With major issues on the defensive end and a glaring lack of quality talent on the roster, Curry going down with an injury was a nightmare scenario for this team and Steve Kerr knows it:

"We'll meet tomorrow as a staff. We'll watch film with the team and we'll be able to discuss all that stuff. Obviously it's been a tough start for us on many levels, so just trying to find our footing. Obviously this puts us in a tough spot, so we'll assess it and go from there," admitted Kerr.

Speculations of Golden State missing the playoffs altogether have picked fuel from this mishap, with some suggesting the former champs to be on the verge of tanking for the year. Warriors' owner Joe Lacob decided to not even dignify the notion of it.

"I won't even respond to that," Lacob said.

Having said that, the Dubs are certainly in an unenviable situation and based on how serious Curry's injury is, Steve Kerr and co. will have to make a call whether it's worth it to push for a playoff seed with a wafer-thin roster.