NBA insider says Stephen Curry is expected back from his injury sooner than the Warriors are letting on

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After Stephen Curry took a scary fall in Game 4 of the Golden State Warriors’ first-round series with the Houston Rockets, an MRI revealed on Monday that he had a Grade 1 MCL sprain.

The team announced Curry would re-evaluated in two weeks.

While it was generally a positive prognosis — Curry didn’t tear his MCL — it wasn’t great news, either. Losing Curry for any amount of time in the playoffs is not ideal, and “re-evaluated” in two weeks was not assurance that he would return in two weeks.

However, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Warriors might be happier with the results of the MRI than they’re letting on. During an appearance on “SportsCenter,” Windhorst said that he’s been told the Warriors are “thrilled” with the prognosis.

“I actually think the Warriors are not saying it, but I think that they’re optimistic that Steph is going to be back sooner than later,” Windhorst said. “I think that MRI, from what I’ve been told, had the best possible news the Warriors could have gotten.”

When asked to repeat what he said, Windhorst reiterated the point, saying, “The word that I have heard is that the Warriors were actually totally thrilled with the MRI and felt like it was the best possible scenario. And they think that it was the greatest news and that he’ll be back sooner than that two-week timeline.”

This is just one report, but it’s welcome news to the NBA world. Of course, it depends on how Curry recovers from the incident, and it’s only been four days. Setbacks are certainly possible.

With the Clippers losing Chris Paul and Blake Griffin for the playoffs, the Warriors’ path to the Finals got a bit easier, with or without Curry. They still have to take care of the Rockets in the first round, but they’re looking at either a battered Clippers team or an inferior Blazers team in the next round, with the possibility of Curry returning sooner.