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Steph Curry cleared for contact, participated in scrimmage while still eyeing March 1 return

Stephen Curry is back — well, nearly.

Curry, months after breaking his left hand, was cleared for contact and took part in a team scrimmage without restrictions on Saturday, the biggest step in his recovery to date.

He’s now eying an official return to the court on March 1, when the Golden State Warriors will host the Washington Wizards.

“It feels good,” Curry said of his hand, via ESPN. It’s been a long 3½-plus months, whatever it is. Just trying to understand all the different checkpoints I had to try and get through to get to this point and then what’s left, but this is the fun part, I guess, where you get to actually play basketball and worry about what happens in between the lines and not so much the specific rehab parts.

“It’s nice to get out there with my guys and play and keep moving forward.”

Curry hasn’t played since he broke his hand on Oct. 30 in their game against the Phoenix Suns. He underwent surgery just days later and has been recovering ever since.

The 31-year-old has slowly been integrating himself into practice drills in recent months and has long been focused on that March 1 date — even if it was just a personal goal.

“It’s always been March 1,” Curry said, via ESPN. “But that for me mostly is just to give you a target. You have to have something to work towards in the rehab process because that gives you a barometer for each week, what you’re building toward.

“Like I’ve always said, I haven’t had any setbacks along the way. This has been a very long, strenuous rehab process, and it’s something I haven’t been through before, so it’s nice that I’m getting that type of response with every new challenge that I kind of go after.”

Though it’s been a tough year for the once-dominant Warriors — who boast a league-worst 12-44 record — coach Steve Kerr said Curry’s role in the scrimmage on Saturday was a welcome sign for their organization.

“I think everybody's excited,” Kerr said, via ESPN. “He got an ovation today when I told the group he was going to scrimmage with us. Everybody was excited. It will be good for our young guys to feel what it's like to play with him and vice versa. Steph needs to get to know these guys, too.”

As to when he officially steps back onto the floor for the Warriors, however, is still up in the air.

Kerr isn’t going to rush anything, especially given where his team is at in the standings.

“Now we’ll give him more scrimmaging, more contact and we’ll see how the coming week goes,” Kerr said, via ESPN. “And hopefully before too long he’ll be ready to go.”

Steph Curry hasn’t played since Oct. 30 when he broke his hand against the Phoenix Suns.
Steph Curry hasn’t played since Oct. 30 when he broke his hand against the Phoenix Suns. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

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