With one of the most entertaining and electrifying All-Star weekend performances ever, Stephen Curry completely stole the show in Cleveland - as he’s done so many times before. His 50-point barrage of 16 threes (and one floater that arced up just about as high as his long-bombs did) was a show for the ages and got a few more iconic pictures to go with it.

Something that was lost on All-Star weekend, however, was that just before the game on Sunday, it was announced that Chris Paul would be missing 6-8 weeks with a thumb fracture. This is now small injury either, as it’s in his shooting hand (his right) in addition to keeping him sidelined for a prolonged period of time.

This is some very interesting timing. The Warriors have had the injury bug with Draymond Green missing an extended period of time since early in 2022. Currently, Golden State is 6.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns for the 1-seed. Phoenix is a very good team, but given that the Dubs have maintained pace while missing guys to injury and rest constantly in addition to a slumping Steph Curry, it’s not unreasonable to believe they could slide down the standings a bit and let the Warriors claim the league’s best record.

Not unreasonable, but unfortunately, also not likely.

The problem is that the Suns are just hard to gauge when Paul isn’t playing. He missed only two games last regular season, and their squad was 2-0 in those. He hasn’t missed any time this season. While Devin Booker was once the guy who couldn’t carry his team, losing a game while still scoring 70 a few years back, he’s improved his playmaking ability drastically since he’s had Paul to mentor him. He’s an impact player on the offensive end, no longer bound to the pure scorer capabilities he earned a reputation for.

The Suns also have a relatively nice strength of schedule left. They’re currently ranked 23rd in remaining strength of schedule, while the Warriors are at 5th and still don’t have solid return dates for either Green or James Wiseman. These two teams will play each other one more time this season, with the Dubs owning the season series at 2-1 so far, but in favor of ensuring their guys are healthy for a potential playoff matchup, it’s possible Monty Williams will just throw in the towel for that one. It would be a daunting task for Golden State to catch up even with that mentality, however. Not impossible, but certainly daunting.

There is a light of hope, however. Historically, the Warriors (specifically Steph Curry) have a tendency to turn up around this time of year. It’s when Kerr solidifies his rotation, guys get healthy, and they start making a playoff push. The question becomes, then, is it worth it to try and rattle off a crazy win-streak to secure full homecourt-advantage through the playoffs? They’re going to have to win games to hang on the 2nd seed alone, as the Memphis Grizzlies are right behind them at 1.5 games back. So then the question evolves into whether they can afford a slide to 3rd or 4th. Utah, at 5.5 games back, is probably not going to catch up to the Warriors assuming they play solid basketball in any semblance. Memphis is a more realistic culprit, and if the playoffs started today, the 3rd seed would land the Dubs in a 1st round matchup against…

The Denver Nuggets. Yikes.

That is probably the last thing that the Warriors want to see if they can avoid it. Denver’s size with Jokic in the middle is prolific, and the Nuggets play them well every time. We still don’t know when Jamal Murray could be back, but assuming he plays in the first round, that could just tack on to the problematic coverages they’d have to face. It’s safe to say that assuming all is solid within the standings, the Warriors will want to keep the 2nd seed. They’re in a good spot right now, likely matching up against a play-in team in the first round and then they can take it from there. The hope is that they can get enough separation from the Grizzlies to not make things too tight for them.

Now, if any of Steph’s magic from the All-Star Game carries into his rhythm moving forward, it could be wraps for the league. A late-season push is very on-brand for him, as the break for All-Star festivities usually does him some good. It’s obvious that even in such a relaxed environment, he’s starting to look more like himself again. The question is, how far can he take the Warriors? Realistically, he’s the one that’s going to get them to the promised land on his shoulders.

In conclusion, the likelihood of the Warriors ending up 1st in the West is unchanged by Chris Paul’s injury. It would take a phenomenal stretch of basketball for them to claim it, but also it would take a sharp decline by the Suns which is not likely for aforementioned reasons. Assuming Steph Curry doesn’t go completely nuclear to close out his MVP campaign, expect the Golden State Warriors to sit pretty in the 2nd seed and face the play-in’s ultimate winner in the first round.

(Photo credit: Noah Graham / Getty Images)