Preview: Curry returns just in time for toughest stretch

picture is still fuzzy, but starting to come together for Warriors, Kerr

The Golden State Warriors don’t have Stephen Curry on their pre-game injury report in the first time in three games, and his return couldn’t come a moment too soon. When this season’s schedule was released, this mid-November stretch was frequently cited as an absolute buzzsaw. Now that the first month has passed, some trends have begun to emerge for Golden State - some of which will help mitigate the incoming category 5 NBA scheduling storm.

Aside from Curry’s reappearance, everything looks good from a health perspective ahead of tonight’s game. Al Horford will, as standard course, be listed as Questionable tonight - planning for the impending back-to-back on Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs. He’ll sit one of these next two games, but coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors aren’t showing their hand just yet.

For the Thunder, they’ve got some key players missing: Jalen Williams, Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins are all out - but it hasn’t slowed them down.

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GAME DETAILS

WHO: Golden State Warriors (6-5) at OKC Thunder (10-1)

WHEN: Tuesday, November 11th, 2025; 5pm PST

WATCH: NBCSBA

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Warriors are 1-5 on the road, turning it around now isn’t the point

Sometimes, marginal progress is okay. For the Warriors, facing this sort of stretch, with the ongoing roster instability? There will be some extra grace to go around.

First of all, look at this schedule. I don’t know if the NBA has intentionally done this to the Warriors as some sort of send off tour, but this sure does look like a stacked deck - even if we accept a fully impartial schedule-making process. This week has Golden facing the #1 team in the Western Conference in OKC tonight, then flying out immediately after the game to face the #2 San Antonio team for a back-to-back Wednesday; plus a second consecutive chance against the Spurs on Friday.

Whew.

And yet, this is exactly the kind of moment that has always defined the Warriors’ dynasty years - when the noise gets loud, the bodies get tired, and somehow they find a version of themselves that looks sharper under duress.

Thankfully, Golden State is fresh off their biggest win of the season: a massive 31-point drubbing that didn’t really take off till the 3rd quarter. In that win, they’ve found some new answers to try out. They aren’t totally new or anything, but some interesting new wrinkles may come in handy in this upcoming road trip.

Some of this success supports the existing paradigm.

Quinten Post 14 point and 8 rebound game. The Warriors absolutely need their young stretch five to be playable, and despite some rocky moments and quiet nights, the Warriors were right to stick with him.

Jimmy Butler is another player that the Warriors have brought in, but he’s much less of a test case. No, Butler is an established leader that is capable of dominating basketball games at the highest level. The knees may be a little more tired, but his overall basketball game is as strong as ever. Against the Pacers, he led all Warriors with 21 points on the night… and he also led the team in assists (with 7). That’s the sort of all-around performance that you can build around.

He was also key to unlocking Al Horford. The big free agency move (aside from retaining Kuminga) that Golden State made this offseason hasn’t really paid dividends yet. Sure, there’s been moments - a key defensive play, the right pass/shoot decision within the flow of the offense - but it wasn’t until that Pacers blowout that we really saw what would happen with a weaponized Horford. It was no accident that it was Butler who was on the other end of these shots. Four threes for Horford, each one off a Butler assist.

One of the most interesting wrinkles was how Golden State used Butler as a functional point forward to stabilize the second unit. With Curry resting, the offense didn’t sputter into the usual iso-heavy possessions - instead, Butler initiated a series of split actions that freed up movement shooters and gave Horford cleaner pick-and-pop looks. It wasn’t flashy, but it was the sort of tactical adjustment that turns chaos into chemistry, and it could quietly become one of Kerr’s go-to levers during this brutal November slate.

We are also starting to see some of the promising youth development occur. From knowns like Podz to newcomers like Will Richard, the Warriors are getting useful minutes out of players that are beginning to not just deserve minutes, but to demand them.

So, here comes the battle drums. These next three games are going to be a pressure test, and one that is almost certainly going to expose some flaws with this Warriors team.

Golden State doesn’t need to be flawless, and they don’t need to win these games (yet). For now, that should be good enough.

Prediction

Curry is back, and joining a roster that just laid down the biggest Steph-less victory for the team since he’s been here. Let’s get crazy and win this.