The only problem is that to contend in the playoffs, you have to actually make the playoffs. This franchise hasn’t been more than six games above .500 all season, and time is rapidly running out for them to make anything of this season.

Durability and health have been the biggest challenges Golden State has faced this year, and nothing has been easy for them since time froze on January 19 when Jimmy Butler tore his ACL.

With Butler done for the season, a chain of injuries and unfortunate events has developed for the Warriors.

Draymond Green, Al Horford, and De’Anthony Melton each seem to be on strict rest regimes, especially when it comes to back-to-backs, and six games after Butler went down for the season, Curry found himself on the injury list.

At first, it didn’t seem like Curry’s injury was all that serious, as he appeared to tweak his right knee on Jan. 30 against the Detroit Pistons and limped off the court to the locker room. The good news for the Warriors is that there was nothing structurally wrong with Steph’s knee, and the team considered him day-to-day and likely to rest through the All-Star break to be 100 percent for the stretch run of the season.

Over four weeks have passed now, and Curry has yet to resume full basketball activities. While the team continues to downplay the severity of this lingering knee issue, the fact of the matter is that the team is sinking quickly and appears to be stuck in the Western Conference standings.

Now 31-30 on the season and close to falling below .500 for the first time since mid-December, the Warriors appear destined to be in the play-in tournament for the third consecutive year.

With Steph, it would be a long shot for Golden State to make up its 5.5-game deficit and claim the 6-seed in the West standings with 21 games remaining. Without Steph, it’s hard to imagine the Dubs will fall out of the play-in region altogether, especially considering that the bottom five teams in the West standings are all tanking and have no intention of winning any more games this year.

The Warriors are currently stuck in limbo yet again, leading to major questions about what the rest of this season looks like, including what happens with Curry over the final six weeks of the regular season.

Does Steph Curry returning even matter?

Since Curry’s knee injury, which is being labeled as patella-femoral pain syndrome and right knee bone bruising, the Warriors have lost seven of their last 11 games. Wins over Phoenix and Denver during this span seem like nothing more than blips in the matrix, as blowout losses and fourth-quarter collapses have been the story of Golden State without Steph.

The bottom line is that this organization can’t find success without Curry, especially since Butler isn’t there to lead the team. Any team that loses its two All-Star players is destined to sink, and that is exactly what has happened to the Warriors.

Given their position in the West standings, the Warriors have zero reason to rush Curry back.

Whether they finish seventh or tenth in the standings, Golden State will still need to win in the play-in tournament to secure a playoff spot. And even if they get to the playoffs, a date with either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs would be waiting for them.

A big decision is looming for the Warriors, and it revolves around bringing Steph back at all during the remainder of the regular season.

Obviously, he needs to be healthy and feel 100 percent first and foremost.

While the expectation was that Curry would return to the court after the All-Star break, the reality of his situation is that he was still dealing with right knee discomfort, which led to more rest and the Warriors conducting more imaging on his knee, which came back clean. Although he has been doing little behind the scenes, Steph has yet to go through a full, extensive workout on the court.

Many tend to forget that Steph is turning 38 on March 14, and he has played in 1,065 career games, 1,220 if you include the playoffs, and even more if you include his Olympic and other ventures. All that mileage piles up for a player like him, especially when you consider that Curry runs more actual miles on the court than any other player every season.

Rest is necessary for him when these types of injuries pop up, which is why the Warriors are operating with an abundance of caution. Even so, sources continue to relay to ClutchPoints that if the playoffs started today, Steph would be receiving around-the-clock treatment and wouldn’t want to miss those games for the Dubs.

At this point, the playoffs are all that matter for Curry and the Warriors. If they are healthy come time for postseason play, Steve Kerr, Draymond Green, and this team understand that they can truly defeat any team in a seven-game series. Whether it’s a rising threat like the Spurs or the defending NBA champion Thunder, the Warriors, whether you believe them or not, truly believe they can win.

The main reason for that is because of what No. 30 can do on the court when healthy.

Having Steph available for the play-in tournament will be essential, as will ensuring he is 100 percent healthy for whoever they possibly face in a first-round playoff series.

That is why there is no rush to bring him back, and that is why sources say the earliest he would be back, but unlikely to return until after this date, is at the start of the Warriors’ six-game road trip against the New York Knicks on Sunday, March 15.

To be perfectly honest, it may be in the Warriors’ and Curry’s best interest to shut things down indefinitely until after this road trip, as seven of the Dubs’ final 10 games of the season will be in San Francisco. The Warriors have time since they aren’t moving anywhere in the play-in standings, which is why Steph’s return doesn’t really matter right now.

As of right now, there have been zero conversations about the Warriors ruling Curry out for the rest of the season, and he, sources said, specifically wants to return before the playoffs to try and create some momentum for this team.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, they can’t seem to get any positive momentum due to all the injury problems that exist alongside Curry.