Warriors’ Chris Paul’s Hand Injury to Be Re-Evaluated After All-Star Break

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The Golden State Warriors announced on Wednesday night that Chris Paul’s hand injury was “recently re-evaluated” and would be “re-evaluated again in 10 days.”

The team’s press release noted that Paul—who suffered a second metacarpal fracture on Jan. 5 and underwent surgery on Jan. 8—would “intensify his on-court activities after the All-Star Break, including parts of practice.”

He’s been missed. The Warriors struggled in the immediate aftermath of his injury, mired in a 4-7 stretch, though they’ve since reeled off five straight wins. That moved them to 26-25, putting them above .500 for the first time since late December.

Paul, 38, was largely utilized off the bench when healthy, averaging 8.9 points and 7.2 assists in 32 contests (11 starts) while shooting 42.4 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from three. The Warriors outscore opponents by four points per 100 possessions with Paul on the court, per NBA.com, and are outscored by opponents by 0.3 points per 100 possessions when he sits.

For years, one of the few weaknesses the Warriors had was trying to win the minutes while Stephen Curry sat. The team generally had enough overall talent it could stagger to come out on top—four championships suggests as much—but the Dubs now have a facilitator in Paul who can run the second unit at a very high level.

It’s made him valuable, even if teams generally don’t want to allocate $30.8 million to a backup point guard.

And the Warriors didn’t ship out his contract in an effort to improve other areas of need ahead of the trade deadline, in part because they apparently didn’t believe better players could be had:

Still, the Dubs and CP3 will likely part ways this summer unless he’s willing to come back on the cheap, especially as rumors swirl about the team’s potential interest in LeBron James.

Time will tell if Curry and James, arguably the two most impactful players of their generation, ever pair up in the Bay Area. For the time being, however, the Dubs will be focused on turning around the current season, and getting CP3 back after the All-Star Game will undoubtedly help in that effort.