Stephen Curry targets 70 games as Warriors manage his knee for 2026-27

Stephen Curry's new challenge: managing, not just playing

For most of his career, Stephen Curry built a reputation as one of the best-conditioned players in the NBA  a guy who simply didn't break down. At 38, that narrative is shifting. Curry missed nearly half of last season due to injuries, including an extended stretch sidelined by patellofemoral pain syndrome, better known as runner's knee, in his right knee. As the Golden State Warriors gear up for another campaign built around their franchise star, the knee issue hasn't fully gone away.

NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole didn't sugarcoat it on the Dubs Talk podcast: "There's at least some lingering concern about the knee. From what I've been told, it can be managed, but it has to be managed and that's a new thing for Steph."

The numbers behind last season's absence

Curry appeared in just 43 games last season, still producing at a high level with averages of 26.6 points, 4.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 39.3% from beyond the arc. The efficiency was never the issue — availability was. Poole's comments confirm that while Curry's trainers have found ways to work around the condition, it's no longer something the star can simply ignore night after night.

Why 70 games is the magic number

Despite the concerns, Poole says Curry remains genuinely optimistic. "Steph seems pretty confident that he'll be able to go out there and put out 70-plus games," Poole said. That target isn't arbitrary it would mark a significant jump from last season and, more notably, from most of the past seven years. Curry has only hit the 70-game mark once since 2019, playing 74 games in 2023-24.

Reaching that range at age 38, coming off a chronic knee issue, would be a real statement about how well the management plan is working. For Golden State, it's not about proving anything in October. The Warriors need Curry available and effective come April, when the games actually start to matter.

A brutal schedule complicates the plan

The 2026-27 slate won't make load management easy. Golden State is slated for 15 back-to-back sets, above the league average of 14.2 and just one shy of the NBA's highest total. Four of those back-to-backs land within the Warriors' first 16 games — an immediate stress test for a 38-year-old star still nursing a knee condition.

• 15 back-to-back sets scheduled for Golden State in 2026-27
• League average sits at 14.2 back-to-backs per team
• 4 of those sets fall within the Warriors' first 16 games
• Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green are all 36 or older

With a core this aged and a schedule this demanding, expect Golden State to be deliberate about resting Curry on select nights rather than pushing for 82. Occasional absences are survivable; extended stretches without him especially while also juggling Butler's and Green's workloads  are much harder to overcome.

Extension talk stays on the back burner

The health conversation lands at an interesting moment for Curry's contract situation. He became extension-eligible on August 29, but neither side seems in a rush. "There's no question I want to be here the rest of my career, and I'm pretty sure that's going to happen," Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area, adding that "the deal and the contract stuff will happen at the right time."

General manager Mike Dunleavy has echoed that sentiment, saying he expects Curry to retire a Warrior regardless of when an extension gets finalized. For now, the more pressing question isn't how many years his next deal covers it's how many nights his knee will actually let him play.

What it means going forward

A healthy, available Curry changes everything for Golden State's outlook. Seventy solid games would give the Warriors something they lacked for most of last season: continuity. It would also ease the burden on a roster that still leans heavily on his gravity and shot-creation to open things up for everyone else on the floor.

Poole's reporting lays out both sides clearly the knee still needs attention, but Curry himself believes 70-plus games is realistic. For Golden State, 70 healthy games from their star point guard would be worth far more than 82 forced ones.

How the Warriors manage Curry's minutes over the next few months could end up shaping their entire playoff push — worth keeping an eye on as the season tips off.