Seth Curry isn’t 100 percent to where he needs to be after offseason ankle surgery, but the Nets sharpshooter is getting closer every day and is expected to be ready for Brooklyn’s Oct. 19 season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Curry didn’t play in Monday’s preseason opener at Barclays Center, however, he was spotted doing some work on his shooting at the team’s facility during the open portion of shootaround in the morning. Curry underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle in May after playing through the pain during the season.
Seth Curry isn’t playing tonight because he’s still getting his left ankle right after off-season surgery. But here’s a look at how well he’s moving to give a rough sense of how far out he is from making a return pic.twitter.com/jyazTOSDyR
— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) October 3, 2022
“Getting closer every day. Doing a little bit more and more every day,” Curry said following Sunday’s practice. “I’m trying to be smart about it. Get everything. Pass all the tests I need to pass and get ready to go, and stay mentally engaged at the same time to be ready for the season.”
The 32-year-old guard said that he had been doing full individual workouts and a “bit of everything except playing five-on-five.” Nets coach Steve Nash described the work as a “dynamic individual workout” against the coaches.
Nash was hopeful that he would be able to get Curry into a preseason game at some point before the regular season started.
“That’d be ideal. Can’t guarantee it,” Nash said. “Whenever he’s ready, he’ll be ready. To be determined. We’ve got to monitor his progress every day and see how it progresses.”
Curry played an important role upon his arrival in Brooklyn in February as part of the blockbuster deal that sent James Harden to Philadelphia and Ben Simmons to Kings County. Curry shot 49.3% from the field and 46.8% from beyond the arc in 19 regular season games with the Nets.
He helped to take a lot of the weight off of Patty Mills’ shoulders, who had stepped up after Joe Harris went down with an injury in early November.
The Nets shouldn’t have that issue going into this season once Curry is healthy. Brooklyn should have plenty of competition for the final starting spot under the guise that the Nets Big 3 will start and Nic Claxton is the odds-end favorite to also win a starter spot.
The increased competition with guys like Harris and Royce O’Neale didn’t seem to bother the NBA veteran.
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“We’ll see when I do get out there and everything happens,” Curry said. “Haven’t really talked about starting spots and rotation stuff like that yet. That’s two and three guys that have really established themselves as starters in this league. We have a really deep team, so competition is a good thing. Everybody has looked good though.
“Everybody is unselfish on this team and everybody wants to win that’s the main goal.”
