Nets keeping an eye on Seth Curry's ailing ankle
Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving drives past Charlotte Hornets guard Kelly Oubre Jr. in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Barclays Center on Sunday, March 27, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Nets will have to monitor Seth Curry’s ailing left ankle, as well as his workload, but will continue to play him as they deem necessary, Steve Nash said.
Curry missed three games earlier this month with an ankle sprain and missed more time with the injury this past week — playing only 12 minutes Monday and sitting out Wednesday.
After scoring 17 points in 22 minutes Saturday against the Heat, he was listed as questionable leading up to Sunday’s game against the Hornets; his status switched to available hours before the tipoff.
Curry, who scored 12 points in 29:20 in the Nets’ 119-110 loss to Charlotte, previously said he’ll have to manage the injury for the remainder of the season. But with Joe Harris out for the year and the Nets getting Kyrie Irving back full-time only recently, Curry has had to carry a heavy load as one of the team’s most disruptive shooters.
“We definitely have to manage Seth here,” Nash said. “We don’t have the luxury to sit him all the time. If we have the choice, we really need him, so we’ll see. We’ve just got to do the best we can and manage his health the rest of the way, and hopefully he can maintain a level of comfort playing through some discomfort. He played really well, I thought, last night, so, you know, it’s not where it’s debilitating.”
Going into Sunday, Curry was averaging 29.7 minutes in 14 games since coming over as part of the trade that sent James Harden to the 76ers. He was averaging 15.6 points and shooting 50% from three-point range — numbers that, small sample size granted, are the best of his career.
Nash predicted that having Irving back for the remainder of the season will help take some of the pressure off Curry. He said, “So having him back, I think, allows us not to, you know, theoretically . . . not overburden everyone, to not have to play Seth 35 minutes a night with his ankle situation and it goes down the line to other players.”
No workouts yet for Simmons
Despite flying with the Nets for the first time and feeling less pain in his back in general, Ben Simmons still has not progressed to individual workouts, Nash said.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
