Curry had 38 points in 30 minutes before missing the fourth quarter
The Golden State Warriors are just 14-15 on the season and 2-13 on the road, but that hasn’t stopped the sportsbooks from having them among the favorites in the NBA Championship odds. That dream may be even harder to reach if Stephen Curry is out for any length of time.
The sharpshooter had 38 points on 19 shots trying to single-handedly win Wednesday’s game for the Warriors, but he was injured on a defensive play in the third quarter when Indiana’s Jalen Smith was driving to the basket. Curry immediately left the game holding his shoulder and doctors and trainers took him back to the locker room shortly thereafter.
The Athletic’s Anthony Slater is reporting at least a multi-game absence for Curry, but an MRI on Thursday will shed more light on the injury.
NBA Championship Odds (DraftKings)
- Boston Celtics +310
- Milwaukee Bucks +600
- Golden State Warriors +750
- Los Angeles Clippers +800
- Phoenix Suns +1200
- Brooklyn Nets +1200
- Denver Nuggets +1400
- Memphis Grizzlies +1600
- New Orleans Pelicans +1800
- Philadelphia 76ers +2200
- Cleveland Cavaliers +2500
- Dallas Mavericks +3000
- All others +4000 or higher
The Warriors have a losing record, but are still the shortest price among Western Conference teams and are only listed below the two Eastern Conference juggernauts in the Celtics and Bucks. If Curry is out for any substantial length of time, the Warriors will drop significantly.
NBA MVP Odds (DraftKings)
- Jayson Tatum +230
- Giannis Antetokounmpo +300
- Luka Doncic +330
- Joel Embiid +1000
- Steph Curry +1100
- Nikola Jokic +1100
- All others +2200 or higher
If Curry misses ample time, he’ll drop far down this board as well. It already looked to be a three-horse race between Tatum, Giannis and Doncic, but Curry is undoubtedly good enough to move up the board and tighten the odds if this isn’t a long-term injury. Given the lofty expectations for the Warriors from a championship standpoint, you would have thought his odds would have been a little lower.
Warriors without Curry
Just looking from a straight-up standpoint, the Warriors are 24-66 when Curry doesn’t play over the last four seasons, with most of that coming during the 2019-20 season when the Warriors went 14-46 without him. Golden State tanked hard and wound up with the second overall pick, selecting James Wiseman out of Memphis.
Curry was on pace to average at least 30 points per game for the third time in his career. He was also on pace for his best season from an assists per game standpoint since 2014-15 and was having his best shooting season at 50% since 2015-16.
Even with Curry, the Warriors got off to a 3-7 start. They climbed out of it to get back to .500, but have not been more than two games over .500 through 29 games.
From a betting standpoint, Jordan Poole’s usage rate increases by more than 7% when Curry is not on the floor, so his player props become very interesting.
We’ll wait to see what the MRI says, but for now, there are a lot of interested parties holding their collective breath with Curry sidelined and the Warriors having lost four of the last five.
