Stephen Curry's ankle sprain, and what it means for your draft this week

Stephen Curry left Golden State's open practice at Chase Center on Sunday, October 18, after his right leg gave way on a pump fake during a light scrimmage with nobody touching him. According to the Press Democrat's account and the RotoWire injury note the same afternoon, he tried to walk it off, then went to the locker room, and the first reports feared it was his right knee, the one that kept him out of 27 games last season with what the team called runner's knee. Steve Kerr settled that within the hour, telling reporters it was "just an ankle for him, not the knee," and Bleacher Report, citing the team, described it as a right ankle sprain.

Kerr did not say whether the sprain would keep Curry out of Wednesday's opener against the Lakers, and nothing reported since has answered that. For fantasy managers drafting this week, the knee is what mattered, because a recurrence there would have changed his whole season, while an ankle sprain that the team itself calls minor is usually a matter of days. The rest of this piece sets out where our projections have him, what would change them, and which Warriors pick up the slack if he sits.

Where our projections have Curry

Our projections already price Curry as a player who misses time. They give him 60 games at 31.8 minutes a night, with 26.1 points, 4.6 threes, 5.2 assists and 92.9% from the line, which works out to 42.7 fantasy points a game under ESPN's standard points scoring. On our projections board under that scoring he ranks 31st once the 22 games he is projected to miss are counted, against 32nd in the analysts' consensus, and on our 9-cat board he is 15th against the consensus's 18th, because the threes and the free throws carry him in categories however many nights he plays.

The nightly run that updates our projections last read the injury news on the morning of October 18, before the practice, so his line does not yet know about the ankle. It will not change much when it does: our projections leave out a day-to-day status entirely and only take games off for a player listed out, so a sprain that costs him the opener and nothing more moves his projected games by one at most.

Who plays if he sits

If Curry misses the opener or the first week, Brandin Podziemski is the player most worth holding. We already project him for 31 minutes a night across 75 games, with 15.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists, which puts him 91st on our points board where the consensus has him 109th. Gui Santos, who we project at 29.6 minutes, ranks 123rd on points against a consensus 148th. De'Anthony Melton is the guard who was guarding Curry on the play, and our projections already give him 1.6 extra minutes a night for Moses Moody's absence after knee surgery, but at 154th on points he is a streaming option rather than a hold.

What to do

Our case for Curry as a 9-cat bargain is in Stephen Curry at 38, and the ankle does not change it. Draft Curry where you would have on Saturday, at the end of the third round in a twelve-team points league and inside the first two rounds in categories, since the ankle has not added to the risk his price already carries. Before his first game, check the Warriors' injury report on Tuesday night, and if he is listed out, start Podziemski in his place rather than chasing a waiver add. Our projections page will show his games move as soon as the report does.

Every player in this story is on the fantasy basketball rankings and the 2026-27 projections, and the NBA depth charts show where each one stands in his team’s rotation tonight.