Warriors protect Moses Moody’s calf injury explained by doctor – NBC Sports Bay Area & California
With Warriors guard Moses Moody doubtful for Golden State’s 2025-26 NBA season opener due to a calf strain, when might the fifth-year pro make his season debut?
Stanford Medicine orthopedic surgeon Dr. Geoffrey Abrams, MD, provided some expert analysis on what Dub Nation can expect from Moody’s injury — which Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the team isn’t “too worried” about — as he returns to the field.
“If the team describes it as a mild muscle strain, it’s probably … a microscopic tear and a small partial tear,” Abrams told NBC Sports Bay Area on Friday. “The good news about that, obviously, is on the less severe end of the spectrum, and the typical timescales for return to play are a couple of weeks or so for these more minor muscle strains.”
Kerr said last Tuesday, Oct. 14, that Moody would be re-evaluated in a week, with the Warriors set to open their new season against the Los Angeles Lakers this Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena. A return timeline of a couple of weeks, as noted by Abrams, would hopefully put Moody back in Kerr’s rotation for Golden State’s Oct. 28 game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Chase Center, their fifth contest of the season.
There are several hurdles Moody will have to overcome before that happens, Abrams explained.
“Obviously, the Warriors are a great professional organization and they have top-notch medical staff, so they’re going to follow that through professional protocol and things like that,” Abrams said. “In terms of returning to play, he has to be able to participate in full workouts 100%, and before he even gets there, he has to demonstrate that he has strength, range of motion, muscle flexibility and be able to do the things that are required of an NBA athlete, obviously, before they even start him in full workouts.
“And then once he gets comfortable with full workouts, jumping and running up and down the field, that’s when you start thinking about coming back to play. Sometimes… there are situations where they may limit minutes initially before bringing him back to full pre-injury participation. But that just depends on a variety of different circumstances.”
After breaking into the Warriors’ starting lineup late last season en route to the NBA playoffs, Moody missed Golden State’s final three preseason games this month because of his calf injury.
Until the Warriors bring Moody back, Abrams noted, there is little chance the calf strain will affect Moody’s play moving forward, and the chance of an Achilles injury, as has been seen in countless NBA stars recently, is minimal.
“Certainly re-injury is also sometimes a possibility, but that’s why you follow the protocol to really reduce that risk and not put him in play before he’s ready, which I’m sure the staff will do,” Abrams said.
Moody has proven to be a valuable member of the Warriors’ lineup, and Kerr is certainly hoping to have the 23-year-old back sooner rather than later.
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