A few years ago, an ESPN article claimed that Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry had the worst ankle in sports. One would assume this was an attempted clickbait in poor taste. But to those aware of Steph’s history of injuries, it hit the mark.
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The article described how Steph’s ankle underwent an elaborate rebuilding and reconstructing process. The Warriors star was not just spraining in unusual ways back then. He was also getting injured so frequently that it scared the then-Warriors GM Bob Myers.
Steph had five sprains in a short span of 26 games during the 2011-12 season. Myers is reported to have stated once that Curry’s sprains weren’t something he had ever seen on anybody else before or since. The surgeon who worked on the Warriors legend’s ankle had quite a lot to deal with.
Dr Richard Ferkel, who had the ankles of the potential future of the NBA in 2012 on his surgery table, had a 1-ounce camera snuck into Steph’s subtalar. The visuals revealed bands of thick, sticky, inflamed scar tissues, bone spurs, and chipped cartilage.
Dr. Ferkel compared it to looking at some exotic seafood. Thankfully, the eventual surgery was successful. And 13 years later, Steph is walking into the 2025-26 season as a four-time champion. But Curry will never take it all for granted. Talking to Lakers legend Steve Nash, he narrated his ankle recovery story.
“After my second year, I had my first surgery. There was [a] moment in rehab, sitting in the basement of my house in Charlotte, like a 3-and-a-half, almost 4-month rehab, to the point that I wasn’t even rolling my ankle landing on somebody. I was doing the one where we are catching in transition, we are pushing off, and that thing would flip, and I look back like ‘what!’ Like I just couldn’t stand on my feet,” recalled Curry.
Curry never had this injury issue while playing basketball in college. He never had anything coming into the NBA that would have given him any cause for concern.
“But to the volume of games in the league, the physicality of the league, travel, I got weak. I wasn’t doing the things to keep [up] with the pace, and then it caught up to me where the whole chain was compromised,” said Curry, who had to learn all of that on the fly post the second surgery in April 2012.
He had to go under the knife a second time because the first time, he didn’t think it had anything to do with his process, training, and preparation. Steph had blamed everything from his shoes to the “Forest Gump-looking ankle braces.” He couldn’t quite put his finger on what the real issue was for the longest time.
But Steph eventually understood why, despite feeling good and strong, he struggled to get through a whole season.
“Learning your body, breaking down your core strength, glute strength, the entire chain that can show itself if there’s strength or weakness down in your ankles. And for me, the most boring, monotonous work you’ve ever done in your life,” Curry said about the work he put in to prevent the injuries from repeating.
Curry worked on the little muscles, movement patterns, among a million other things. Those were the dark days when he truly understood what it meant to earn your way into the NBA and stay there.
“I think there’s an understanding for not taking anything for granted even at this stage in terms of longevity… How you approach the off-season, how you approach the recovery days, even just prime yourself [for] practice, I can’t just walk on a court. There are steps you have got to take,” Curry explained.
Steph also credited Lakers star LeBron James for being an inspiration. The Lakers legend is someone who follows every step, no matter how small or tedious, to take care of his body.
LeBron is currently 40 years old, playing in his 23rd season in the NBA. Curry is 37, playing in his 17th year in the league. So it does look like following in LeBron’s footsteps has worked for the 4-time NBA champion.
