Before Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Steve Kerr said “it’s realistic” that Stephen Curry will return for Golden State’s Friday game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Curry has missed the Warriors’ last four games (including Saturday) with a quad injury.
Entering Saturday, Golden State was 2-5 without Curry.
Numbers Show How Reliant the Warriors Are on Steph for Offense
When Steph is on the court, the Warriors have a 119.3 offensive rating, per Cleaning the Glass. That would rank as the eighth-best offense in the NBA.
When he’s off, the offensive rating drops to 108.0. That would be the worst offense in the NBA.
That 11.3 offensive-rating swing is big (ranks in the 95th percentile among all players), but it’s par for the course for Steph.
Last year, the offensive rating was 13.1 points per possessions with Steph. Curry has an offensive-rating swing of at least 10 in 10 different seasons.
When put that way, there’s no shame in this team’s offensive struggles without him.
Updates to come