When do the Warriors start worrying about Stephen Curry's ankles again?

Ben Rohrbach
·Senior NBA writer

The NBA waited with bated breath upon news Stephen Curry’s ankle may have suffered a setback:

And less than an hour later, the Golden State Warriors confirmed that the two-time MVP’s ankle woes are persisting, as the team ruled him out of Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Curry missed 11 games last month with a right ankle injury. He averaged a scorching 35.2 points per game in five games after returning on Dec. 30, shooting 53.2 percent on more than a dozen 3-point attempts per game. There is no word yet on how many games he will miss due to this latest setback.

The Warriors have to be concerned that the ankle issues that marred much of Curry’s early career appear to be reoccurring as he approaches his 30th birthday. He was placed on the injury list on six separate occasions between the start of the 2010-11 season and the end of the 2012-13 campaign for injuries to both ankles. Curry underwent surgery on his right ankle in the 2011 and 2012 offseasons.

Since then, Curry suffered right ankle sprains in 2015 and 2016 that did not cost him significant time, but two more right ankle sprains just weeks apart has to give pause to a player who felt as though he had put those issues behind him through shifting his weight load from his ankles to hips in 2013.

The Warriors brass, coaches and training staff were already knocking on wood when when interviewed for an ESPN article in February 2016 entitled, “How Stephen Curry got the best worst ankles in sports.” Curry is a different player now than he was when his ankles first derailed his career, of course, and his sprain last month certainly did nothing to slow him down, physically or mentally. But at what point does doubt creep back in about his ankles? And at what point does concern move beyond doubt?

The Warriors rise coincided with the health of Curry’s ankles, as he emerged as a singular talent who led Golden State to three straight Finals and a pair of NBA titles. Now, the NBA holds its breath again.

– – – – – – –

Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!