Stephen Curry is one of three Golden State Warriors who will be on a minutes restriction in the team’s play-in game against the Clippers in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Sunday that Curry, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford will all play fewer than 40 minutes in the must-win game.
The game is a rematch of Sunday’s regular-season finale won by the Clippers 115-110. If the Warriors lose, a season the team likely would like to forget ends. Golden State clinched the last of four play-in berths at 37-45.
Curry has been battling knee injuries most of the season and Jimmy Butler tore his ACL in early January. Horford has been dealing with a calf injury while Draymond Green and Porzingis have both been nursing sore backs.
The Warriors have attempted to manage the minutes of their aging superstars all season, and the play-in game is no different. Kerr has been vocal about the league needing to adopt a shorter regular-season schedule to prevent such injuries.
“I know this will not be a popular opinion in the league office, but I will continue to say it because it’s obvious we need to play fewer games — we need to take 10 games off the schedule,” he said in March. “I think it would be a more competitive and healthier league if we played fewer games.”
For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard rested for the final games of the season in preparation for the play-in. Leonard averaged a career-high 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists during a mostly healthy season in which he played his second-most games as a Clipper. He played 68 games two seasons ago after being limited to 37 in 2024-25 because of injuries.
