There are regular-season games that matter because of the standings, and then there are games that suddenly become much bigger because of who is missing. Spurs Vs Warriors fits the second category. Golden State heads into November 13, 2026 without Steph Curry, and that changes the entire shape of the matchup before the ball is even tipped.
Curry suffered an oblique abdominal tear just 6 minutes into Wednesday night’s loss to the Houston Rockets, ending a night that had already snapped the Warriors’ 8-game win streak. The injury report now says he will be out for at least the next 2 weeks, which is a major blow for a Golden State team that had been leaning on him to drive the offense.
What the streaks say
The contrast in form is hard to miss. Golden State enters at 10-2, but that record now has to be read with Curry sidelined. San Antonio, meanwhile, is 8-4 and riding a 10-game winning streak after Wednesday night’s comeback win over the Chicago Bulls in Chicago. The Spurs are also listed as 10.5-point favorites for the game at the Frost Bank Center, a number that reflects both momentum and the Warriors’ injury situation.
That does not automatically make this a mismatch, but it does tell you where the pressure sits. San Antonio has the rhythm, the home court and the confidence of a team that has learned how to win in different ways. Golden State has the better overall record, but without Curry, the margin for offensive error gets much thinner.
The injury report changes the math
Curry is the obvious absence, but he is not the only name on the Warriors’ injury report. Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody, Brandon Williams and Gary Payton II are also listed, which only adds to the uncertainty around how Steve Kerr can piece together the rotation. When the best player is unavailable and several others are in question, the game stops being about talent in the abstract and becomes about who can survive the available minutes.
That is why this meeting feels different from a typical early-season matchup. San Antonio’s 10 straight wins have given it the look of a team that knows its identity. Golden State’s 8-game win streak is gone, and now the bigger issue is whether the Warriors can keep generating enough offense without the player who had been organizing so much of it.
So the answer to the biggest question is simple: no, Steph Curry is not playing against the Spurs. The more interesting question is whether Golden State can keep its early-season profile intact while missing the player who has been central to it. On Wednesday night, the answer already looked a lot harder to find.
