Warriors’ Stephen Curry listed as probable to return on Tuesday vs. Suns

Stephen Curry is listed as probable to return to the lineup for the Golden State Warriors Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns. Curry has been out of the lineup since Dec. 14 after suffering a subluxation of his left shoulder against the Indiana Pacers. The team had initially hoped that he would return by this weekend, but after going through two practices, he is seemingly ready to take the floor again on Tuesday.

Curry has missed Golden State’s last 11 games but was having one of the best seasons of his career before his injury. He is averaging 30 points per game for the third time in his career and is currently on pace for his second 50-40-90 shooting season. Before his injury, Curry was considered among the top MVP candidates, but Golden State’s struggles as a team would have made it difficult for him to win the award.

Fortunately, Golden State has seemingly figured things out in Curry’s absence. The Warriors are 6-5 since their best player went down. Jonathan Kuminga and Donte DiVincenzo have emerged as key role players, and Klay Thompson has looked like his old All-Star self by averaging 26 points per game since Curry went down.

Those are key developments for a Warriors team whose best units were never in question. Even as they struggled, their starting lineup built around Curry built the best point-differential of any five-man unit in basketball at plus-132. Now that Curry is returning and their bench seems to have settled in, the Warriors should return to being one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA as it attempts to defend its title.