Stephen Curry Ruled out at Least 3 Weeks as Knee Injury Diagnosed as MCL Sprain

The results are in: Stephen Curry has a Grade 2 MCL sprain and will be re-evaluated in three weeks.

The Golden State Warriors provided an update on the superstar after he underwent an MRI on Saturday to determine the severity of the injury:

Curry made his return to the court Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks after being sidelined the previous six games due to an ankle sprain. It was a short-lived return, however, as he left the game late in the third quarter after teammate JaVale McGee landed on his left leg during a play:

JaVale McGee Lands on Curry's Left Leg and Steph Limps Off

The guard had shown little signs of rust on the night, dropping 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting and seven rebounds.

After the game, McGee sent his thoughts and prayers to Curry via Twitter:

As ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski noted, this injury is similar to the one Curry suffered during the 2016 postseason. He missed a couple of games in the first round of the 2016 playoffs with a sprained right ankle and returned to the court only to sprain his right knee in his first contest back. He went on to miss the next four games.

Curry returned in just over two weeks in that instance. While the Warriors won a record 73 games that season, they needed their best player as the playoffs went on. Unfortunately for the team, he did not look like the two-time reigning MVP when he returned, although he still shot 44 percent from the floor. The Cleveland Cavaliers would go on to defeat the Warriors in seven games in the NBA Finals that year.

At 54-18, Golden State has locked up a top-two seed in the Western Conference, meaning it can afford to let players get healthy before the playoffs.

The timetable for Curry's injury goes through the end of the regular season. With a tight race for the Nos. 3 through 8 seeds, it's not clear who Golden State's first-round opponent will be. However, as long as Kevin Durant (ribs), Draymond Green (pelvis) and Klay Thompson (thumb) can put their injuries behind them, they might be able to buy Curry extra recovery time.

For now, he will have to take the injury day by day and aim to return early in the playoffs.