Stephen Curry will miss at least three weeks with a sprained left knee, meaning the Golden State Warriors will be without their do-everything point guard for the rest of the NBA regular season.
He could be back for the start of the playoffs next month if all goes well in his rehabilitation for his latest injury.
Meanwhile, Boston Celtics star guard Kyrie Irving will miss the rest of the regular season and perhaps part of the playoffs after undergoing surgery on his left knee on Saturday.
An MRI on Saturday showed a Grade 2 sprain of Curry's medial collateral ligament and the team says he will be re-evaluated in three weeks - that would be April 14 and a possible Game 1 of the playoffs.
The two-time MVP and the Warriors' second-leading scorer this season had returned from a six-game absence after his latest right ankle injury Friday night only to injure his left knee.
In the third quarter of a victory over the Atlanta Hawks, Warriors centre JaVale McGee fell into him.
Curry hobbled off the court grimacing, sat on the bench and put his head down.
The defending champions were already without their three other All-Stars: Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
Green is likely to be back from a bruised pelvis for Sunday night's home game against Utah while Durant is still recovering from a broken rib and Thompson has a fractured right thumb.
"Hopefully, we will have five guys that can suit up by the playoffs," coach Steve Kerr said.
Curry scored 29 points before his knee injury, which Kerr called "kind of a strange, cruel twist of fate."
"Steph, he's battled it," said guard Quinn Cook, who has played regularly in Curry's place.
"He always stays positive, stays in tune to what's going on. Obviously, we need him to be on the floor for us to get where we want to go.
"I know he's worried about the common goal at the end of the season. I know he'll be fine."
The Celtics said Irving underwent a procedure in which a tension wire was removed from the troublesome knee and he is expected to resume basketball activities in three to six weeks.
"While removal of the wire should relieve irritation it was causing in Irving's patellar tendon, the fractured patella has fully healed and Irving's knee has been found to be completely structurally sound," the Celtics said in a statement.
Irving, who leads the Celtics in points and assists, hasn't played since departing at halftime of a March 11 game against the Indiana Pacers.
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