Stephen Curry's value to the Golden State Warriors is immense. He leads the league in scoring, threes, steals, player efficiency rating, true shooting percentage and win shares.

He has apparently suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL), one of the four major ligaments of the knee.

Such an injury is categorised as Grade I, II, or III. The lower-grade MCL injuries keep players sidelined for an average of 7.2 games over 15 days.

The Warriors will likely close out the Rockets in Game 5 tomorrow and their second-round opponents will most likely be the Los Angles Clippers, who have a 2-1 series lead over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Curry will have six or eight days to recover before the second round begins, 23 days before the conference finals begin and 38 days until the Finals begin.

InStreetClothes.com estimates that, if it is a Grade I sprain, he could miss at least the first few games of the second round.

If it is Grade II, that could sideline him for all of the second round and a good chunk of the conference finals too.

Warriors have a ready-made replacement in Shaun Livingston. Others, such as Ian Clark and Leandro Barbosa, can step in too. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala also are proven distributors.

For the Clippers, who still need to finish off the Blazers, Curry's injury is a godsend. The Warriors have dominated them during the Steve Kerr era. But now, assuming Curry misses at least a portion of the series, the match-up will be much closer.