The Golden State Warriors have been rolling this season despite an ankle injury to guard Stephen Curry, who has missed the last three games, all of which resulted in Golden State wins. On Saturday evening, the Warriors went up by as many as 31 points against the Houston Rockets before relinquishing that lead but ultimately ended up winning the game in overtime thanks to some timely buckets from Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski, among others.
While the Warriors have done an admirable job of holding down the fort in Curry's absence, there's no doubt that they're a different animal when their All-Star is on the floor, and on Sunday, the team got a positive update in that regard as they head east for a prolonged road trip, as the team's official injury report for Monday's game vs the Washington Wizards listed Curry as questionable, per Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.
It's the first such designation for Curry since he sustained the injury last week in a loss vs the Los Angeles Clippers.
Is the Warriors' hot start legit?
The Warriors have raced out of the gates this year, just as they did a season ago, when the team also got out to a 5-1 start before falling apart quickly as things progressed.
Of course, the big story of the offseason for the Warriors was the departure of Klay Thompson, as the future Hall of Famer bolted for the Dallas Mavericks in free agency.
However, Buddy Hield has done an admirable job of sliding into the other splash brother role alongside Stephen Curry, lighting up the Rockets on Saturday night and overall providing some much needed spacing for the Warriors' offense.
The Warriors have also seen improvement from young players like Moses Moody after his recent contract extension, and Andrew Wiggins remains a solid three and D player capable of turning into a strong scorer for stretches.
It remains to be seen whether all of this will be enough for the Warriors to compete in a vaunted Western Conference playoff picture. Golden State, to its credit, has tried to make moves for several stars over the last couple of offseasons but to no avail. Still, this is perhaps the deepest team that the Warriors have had since their dynastic days in the mid to late 2010s.
In any case, the Warriors and Wizards are slated to tip off at 7:45 PM ET on Monday evening.
