The trepidation that accompanied Stephen Curry through his first three NBA seasons is long forgotten by his contemporaries, perhaps because he buried it under a mountain of individual accolades and team achievements.

Curry remembers and always will. Outside doubt drives him. It’s why he should be forgiven for allowing himself a defiant sneer with each glance at his championship rings and MVP trophies.

He had hoped that being a lottery pick in the 2009 draft would help him outgrow the skepticism that stalked him as a scrawny teenager. But he only discovered new legions of doubters. Because his first three seasons were hampered by sprains to each ankle, costing him 50 games and resulting in surgery on the right ankle, questions were whispered around the league about whether he could withstand the demands of the NBA.

Curry saw it through a narrower lens: Are they trying to question my toughness and ability to overcome?

Which is why Thursday is so deliciously intriguing. After missing 58 games -- two more than the total of his previous six seasons -- with a fractured left hand/second metacarpal, Curry returns to the lineup as the Warriors face the Toronto Raptors in a titular rematch of the 2019 NBA Finals

We don’t know what to expect. Curry could score 25 points in 10 minutes or score 10 in 25. Off-the-record comments I’ve gotten have been unanimously positive, though some express caution about immediate expectations. He is, after all, joining a team composed mostly of strangers.

The Warriors are anxious to see how their superstar looks and will use the final 20 games of the season to gain an idea of how well Curry can coexist with his new teammates, and how they can coexist with someone with his gravity.

“He’s special,” coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday on KNBR radio. “He’s one of a kind. We’re all just fired up to get him back. It’s going to be so much fun.”

Much of Dub Nation, however, is coping with the dilemma that comes with aching to see Curry on the court but also being worried sick that he might get hurt.

That thought is not even in the same time zone as Curry’s mind. Any person daring to come to him with such a negative sentiment should brace for a glare withering enough to melt their lips off their face.

With the possible exception of losing an NBA Finals, there is nothing Curry hates more than anyone having the feintest notion that he is prone to injury. It’s a sore subject and has been ever since his ankles attempted, in the minds of unknowing observers, to sabotage his career.

In the seven seasons after ankle surgery, Curry played 78, 78, 80, 79, 79, 51 and 69 games. Of the 31 games he missed in two seasons, 19 were related to three different sprains or tweaks of his right ankle. He declined to acknowledge either but was forced to the sideline.

This is different insofar as Curry is the team’s -- ahem -- senior citizen. Curry is nine days away from turning 32. He undoubtedly has had to face, much to his irritation, his basketball mortality. He’s the old, injured guy on the bench watching teammates a decade younger.

This is the kind of challenge that excites and incites Curry. He rejoins longtime teammates Draymond Green and Kevon Looney, but the last 20 games are about proving he can keep with Andrew Wiggins and Marquese Chriss, as well as rookies Eric Paschall and Jordan Poole.

He’ll have to contain himself, and Kerr will be there to remind him of that.

“I’m just kind of looking at it as if this were the end of training camp and he’s just starting the season,” Kerr said on KNBR. “So, it’s mainly about minutes now. We’ll play him in shorter bursts tomorrow, probably five- or six-minute bursts. I imagine we’ll keep him around 25 minutes.

“Over the next couple weeks, I want to get him back to his normal 32- or 34-minute a night role. At that point, he could really get some good time on the floor with Andrew and with Draymond, the three of them together. And then all of our young guys, who he hasn’t played with.”

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Curry wants to prove he still can make his teammates better, captivate an audience and engineer a few wins. Don’t misunderstand, though. He most assuredly wants to prove to everyone that he’s as tough, committed and productive as ever.

Those whispers still ring in his ear. They’ve gone away to most everyone but Curry. He has done more than enough to render them silent, but he’ll always remember. They nourish him.