Paul out indefinitely with broken hand
Within seconds of hurting his hand going for a loose ball Friday night, Chris Paul seemed to know it was bad. Holding his left palm, the Warriors' 38-year-old point guard went directly to the locker room.
The hand is broken. Paul will undergo surgery next week and be sidelined indefinitely.
Paul's sure hands have all but secured his spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame, but those same hands have also betrayed him. He has now had 11 hand injuries in his 19-year career, five on his non-shooting hand and six on his right, according to ESPN. There is no timetable for his return, though it is expected he will return sometime this season.
“I just feel bad for him,” Steph Curry said after the Warriors' 113-109 escape from the lowly Detroit Pistons. “I just feel for him because he does such an amazing job of taking care of his body and preparing himself day in and day out. Nobody sees the amount of hours he puts in, especially at this phase of his career.”
Paul's frustrating history with hands is a tale in itself, but also another punch to a Warriors season that's already absorbed plenty of blows from Draymond Green's suspensions, Gary Payton II's injury woes and
an identity crisis that underlies the team's 17-18 record.
Nothing about this season has been consistent
except for the increasing weight Curry and his teammates bear to duck the punches while trying to gel as a team. Curry hopes all this makes them stronger, a real contender, before the season is up.
“This year is more of the same, different challenges,” Curry said. “But a lot's gone on in 35 games. We have to stay fresh mentally, physically. Not get exhausted or fatigued. All the things you're trying to balance while also trying to perform on the court. Every season you have unique and different challenges that if a team is trying to reach its full potential, you have to persevere through. This season has been an extreme case of that.”
Paul has been a key playmaker for the Warriors, especially with Green having missed the last 12 games while serving a suspension that the NBA lifted Saturday. Green is likely to miss at least a couple more games while he works back into playing condition after 25 days away from the team.
Paul had been running the second unit, but started the last three games in a move designed to create better looks for Curry offball.
“He's such a cerebral player,” Curry said. “He knows how to manage the game, getting us organized and we had a stretch where we had tough starts, this is all because Draymond has been out and how different we look as a team trying to run our system. CP is a great addition to that flow.”