The Golden State Warriors were eagerly awaiting Steph Curry's return to the court, but it seems they may have to wait just a bit longer. Curry has missed the past five games due to runner's knee, but was expected to be able to return shortly after the All-Star break with the extra time for rest and rehab.

Unfortunately, it seems like things haven't exactly gone as planned for Curry and the Warriors on his road to recovery, and they may have to wait a bit longer before seeing the new duo of Curry and Kristaps Porzingis out on the floor together.

Initially, Curry's knee issue was diagnosed as runner's knee, a colloquial term for patellofemoral pain syndrome. Curry was essentially dealing with pain around the kneecap that's often triggered by running.

It was anticipated that with enough rest, the pain would subside enough for him to play, but it hasn't reached that point yet.

On NBA Today on Thursday, Shams Charania provided an update on the second MRI Curry recently underwent on his knee and discussed his status moving forward.

"An MRI in the last 24 hours on Stephen Curry show no structural issue in his right knee, but he is dealing with persistent swelling and pain in that knee. The team is describing it as runner's knee as the injury. Stephen Curry works out individually, as he did over the All-Star break, and afterward, he deals with pain and swelling, so both the Warriors and Curry need all of that to subside before he can try to start to play again, and it's uncertain whether that will be days or weeks more away."

Anthony Slater also discussed the level of concern the Warriors have for Curry's injury.

"MRI is clean, so there's no underlying structural issue that is of greater concern, but this is something he's been dealing with for about a month now. It originally popped up in Minnesota during a workout, he played through it, he was having a good game against the Pistons, and then it just started bothering him again ... This is the kind of news, the kind of concern for guy who's turning 38 next month where it feels like that (championship) window is creaking even further shut."

At this point, it seems like all the Warriors can do is hope that Curry's pain and swelling subsides sooner rather than later. Without anything revealed by the MRI, the long-term anxiety is mitigated, but it's still worrying that the pain has persisted for so long without any clear progress.

It's a big loss, especially for tonight, where Porzingis is expected to make his Warriors debut. It was meant to be a big reveal on how Curry and Porzingis would play together, but the Warriors will have to hope that Curry can come back in time for the pair to have time to mesh and go on a run down the home stretch of the season.

Additionally, Curry will be missing his 17th game tonight, meaning that unless he returns to action immediately after tonight and doesn't miss another game the rest of the season, he will be ineligible for any end-of-season awards, including an All-NBA honor that he is likely otherwise on track for.