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November 1, 2026
The back-to-back

Golden State moved Curry's night off to the Clippers

Stephen Curry and Draymond Green sat the second night of the first back-to-back, at Phoenix. For the second one they sit the first night, at home against the 1-4 Clippers on Sunday, and are listed as likely back for the Suns on Monday.

GL
Grant LombardNov 1, 20263 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Stephen Curry, in a gray Golden State shooting shirt, sits courtside answering a question while a reporter's handheld recorder is held into the frame. Photographed in November 2017.

Stephen Curry will not play on Sunday night. That part was always coming. Steve Kerr said on October 15 that the Warriors do not play Curry on back-to-backs, and Sunday's game against the Clippers at Chase Center is the first night of one.

What changed is which night.

The first time, Curry played the first game and sat the second. He and Draymond Green played Memphis at home on October 23 and then did not play at Phoenix on October 24, a 131-122 loss. This time the order is reversed. Curry is out Sunday managing his right knee, and Green is out resting a bilateral low back injury, Ali Thanawalla of NBC Sports Bay Area reported on Saturday afternoon, citing the club's listings as posted by his colleague Dalton Johnson. Both are likely to be available Monday, when Phoenix comes to Chase Center. ESPN's injury listing, crediting Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, calls Curry's absence rest and gives his return date as Monday.

So the two men who sat out Phoenix are lined up for Phoenix. Al Horford and Brandin Podziemski, who also did not play on October 24, are not on Sunday's injury list at all.

Why Sunday#

Nobody on the record has said yet. Kerr talks before Sunday's game. The schedules say plenty in the meantime.

The Clippers are 1-4. They played at Minnesota on Friday, play in San Francisco on Sunday, and are home to Toronto on Monday, so they are on their third game in four nights and the front end of their own back-to-back. Phoenix is 1-3, lost at home to Denver 127-120 on Friday, and then has nothing until Monday. The Suns arrive with two days off.

The read: Golden State put Curry and Green on the night against the more rested team, which is also the team that beat it without them on October 24. That is a coaching staff picking the harder game to win rather than the easier one to rest for. It is also an inference, and Kerr can wreck it in a sentence on Sunday evening (he does this).

The tickets#

Kerr's October advice was aimed at the people buying seats. "We have fans who buy tickets expecting to see Steph," he said, per Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. "And then we have a back-to-back, and we don't play him."

Monday is the first of six back-to-backs this season that end at Chase Center, by ESPN's schedule. The October pattern said those were the nights to avoid. The second data point says the club will pick either night, and that it may pick by opponent.

Two weeks ago I told you to buy the night before. Sunday is the night before.

(Sorry.)

Monday's game is at 7 p.m. Pacific. The next back-to-back is on the road, at Dallas on November 18 and Memphis on November 19, and it will be the third data point. Anyway, two of them now disagree, which is the most useful thing a sample of two can do.

Sources: Curry's and Green's Sunday status, the listed reasons, and their likely availability Monday from Ali Thanawalla, NBC Sports Bay Area, October 31, 2026, including the listing posted by Dalton Johnson. Curry's rest designation and Monday return date from ESPN's Warriors injury listing, crediting Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints. Kerr's October 15 remarks from Monte Poole, NBC Sports Bay Area, October 15, 2026. The October 24 result and the listed absences that night from ESPN's box score for game 401909860 and NBC Sports Bay Area. Records, results and schedules for Golden State, the Clippers and Phoenix from ESPN.

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