According to reporting, Steph Curry’s oblique tear is going to put him out of action for a minimum of two weeks - with some reporting stating that the team is bracing for an absence of “close to a month.” There’s never a good time for something like this to happen, but especially not on the week consisting of two of the biggest Western Conference test games of the season. But so it goes.
After dropping a close(ish) one to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, the Warriors are going to drag what’s left of their healthy roster into San Antonio for a showdown against Wemby and the Spurs. Thankfully, Gary Payton is cleared to return to play after missing a couple of games with a minor knee issue. Guard defense was one of the problem areas against the Rockets, so his return is timely.
GAME DETAILS
WHO: Golden State Warriors (8-4) at San Antonio Spurs (10-2)
WHEN: Friday November 13th, 2026; 6:30 pm PDT
WATCH: Amazon Prime
Ugh. Houston.
Back when I lived in Texas, they called Houston “the armpit of Texas” and over the years, I’ve grown into a deeply felt agreement with that statement. Curry has faced Houston 74 times over his career, including playoffs, averaging 24.1 points in regular-season matchups and 24.9 in playoff games. Back in April of 2016, Curry sustained one of the biggest injuries of his career - an unintentional slip on the Houston court that caused the MCL sprain that nearly derailed their championship.
And now, a decade later, it’s Houston again. The Warriors seemingly with limitless potential and a bunch of momentum - all derailed in a moment. It puts more pressure on a season that had been feeling light and airy. Hopeful. That hasn’t been stolen necessarily, but paused perhaps?
I had an ex from Houston. Cool woman. She was super into art cars (apparently there’s a whole scene in Houston), and did fire dancing on the side. We met while leading wine tasting bicycle tours. She lived in this weird yurt in a backyard in Santa Rosa. I fondly remember sitting around after a long day listening to these weird Ultra Lounge sampler albums she had.
Maybe it’s just the Houston connection, but I think I’m also drawing a parallel here because of how ephemeral it was. She was moving back to Texas (a State I had just very intentionally left recently). So there was an impermanence to that relationship that made everything easy, but also, an enjoyable bittersweet undertone to everything.
The world of professional sports is full of these ephemeral human interactions, and I love it. A regrettably short crossing of paths for us watchers to enjoy from our seats.
So yeah, Curry is out for a while, and everything just got harder for Golden State. But man, for a moment there, the magic was flowing freely. Curry was playing as good as he ever has. At 38 years old, there was something very, very special going on with Curry this season. But we all knew this couldn’t last forever. Hopefully this is just a short pause.
But even as that dream fades, I can see a new one starting to form. Maybe not tonight, when Wemby and the championship-seeking Spurs show us what a fully powered roster looks like. They’ve won 10 in a row and are looking like the team to beat in the West. A win isn’t impossible this evening, but the odds are against it. You’d have to be delusional to expect the Warriors to win.
It’s a pretty brutal two-week stretch, especially now that Curry is expected to miss at least six games with his oblique injury. I’d rate the upcoming schedule around 8/10 in difficulty, with the combination of road games, quality opponents and compressed schedule making it particularly challenging. But there are winnable games in here:
This opening stretch is particularly brutal. Four games in seven days, all on the road:
San Antonio
New Orleans
Dallas
Memphis
But the Warriors were showing some meaningfully helpful depth, and Yaxel Lendeborg is looking very much like this team’s next fleeting dream giver. It’s obviously worse without Curry, but with those glimpses - eight games of scrappy greatness - it’s enough to sustain hope.
Every team in the league comes with an asterisk next to their season’s plans. *If healthy. All around the league star players have been going down. As far as bumps in the road go, this one might spill a little coffee, but it could have been much worse for Golden State. Now we get another type of look at this team. The Warriors have always been worse without Curry. Not even at the height of the dynasty’s power was Durant enough to offset the impacts when Curry couldn’t play.
So no, Yax and Podz don’t need to go undefeated, but they do need to keep their heads up. Give Dub Nation a reason to hold on to hope.
Because if you look at the calendar, Curry’s re-assessment will be around the end of November. Assuming a period of gently returning to basketball activities, and that’s getting awfully close to the timeline for Butler and Moody to begin working their way back.
Golden State has built themselves a little bit of a cushion when it comes to the standings. It was a beautiful run that was cut all too short in Houston. A bittersweet memory, but what a great ride!
Now it’s going to be something else for a while, and who knows what Curry will look like whenever he comes back. We get something new for these next few weeks. Uncertainty is part of following any team.
The next two weeks probably aren’t going to be pretty. San Antonio, Boston, and a string of road games are a rough way to navigate life without Stephen Curry, and on one will be surprised if the Warriors give back some of the cushion they’ve built for themselves. But this is also where the season gets interesting in a different way. Podz has a chance to take on more responsibility, Yax gets another opportunity to show that his early-season promise can hold up under a bigger spotlight - and the rest of this roster has to figure out how to keep the whole thing moving.
Prediction
The Warriors come out of this stretch a little worse for wear, but not wrecked. Something like 3-3 feels reasonable, with the possibility of a better result if they steal one of the tougher road games. Curry’s absence is going to be felt. It always is. But there’s still something worth watching in what happens.
Music Friday!
Oh, have we got a classic for you today, DNHQ. When’s the last time you listened to some whiny emo music? These guys are coming to San Jose Saturday, and maybe I’ll go cry about Curry in the pit.
I am in a way looking forward to the next weeks because it's going to allow us to pinpoint where we are at with this team. We are most likely looking at ~14-16 games without Curry. If the team can play .500 ball (give or take one victory or loss either way) with a positive net rating, then our boys could be a serious sleeper pick in the postseason if everyone is healthy.