Steph has Achilles' ankles. "Tissue-paper ankles," as I've often called them on "First Take." Twice he has had ankle surgery, once to repair ligaments and once to clean out loose bodies. He has turned or tweaked his ankles countless times, sometimes while just dribbling half-speed. He has missed 54 games over four NBA seasons and has winced though many more.
He is in danger of becoming the point guard version of 6-foot-11 Bill Walton, who once played as audaciously as he speaks. Walton was an NBA MVP and a Finals MVP but limped through parts of 10 NBA seasons battling all sorts of foot and ankle injuries, finally winding up as (sad but true) a Sixth Man of the Year for Boston in 1985-86. Talk about what might have been. Walton had the skill, spring and Frisbee-chasing energy to dominate for two decades. But he needed ankle fusion after his career ended.
Please, not Steph. Not a young man whose basketball artistry is matched by his spirituality, whose shooting range is as deep as his character. Curry's Bible tells him that bad things do happen to good men -- that God can work in painfully mysterious ways.
Please, God, not this man. Give him ankles. - Skip Bayless, 2013