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Jimmy Butler’s season is over after a serious knee injury. And for the Golden State Warriors, who were already hanging by a thread as contenders, this likely means they will have to write off this campaign.
The worst-case scenario feared after seeing him leave the court has come true: Jimmy Butler III has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season, with next year’s campaign also in serious doubt. It’s the worst possible news for the Golden State Warriors. As usual (even if it’s perhaps a bit less true this season), the Western Conference is stacked with talent, and while the Warriors were close to the top 6 – and thus a direct playoff spot – the injury to one of their two leaders could cost them their season.
The impact was clear from their very first game without “Buckets,” on Wednesday night. Completely lost, the Warriors gave up their highest point total of the season against the Raptors: 145 points, and that’s without overtime! Of course, it’s just one game, but it’s hardly a sign of better days ahead. By the numbers, everything is in the red. The Warriors’ offensive rating drops from 118.8 to 108.3 when he’s not on the floor. The defensive rating goes from 114.0 to 115.4, but the net rating is the real shocker: -7.1 without him, compared to 4.8 with him!
He’s only missed seven games this season, but Golden State lost five of those, including some against the Kings and the Heat, both play-in level teams.
But beyond his play, his leadership was highly valued, and was probably the main reason the Warriors took the risk to bring him in, even though he’d just been suspended by Miami, ending a story that had
taken them to the NBA Finals. Known for his fiery personality (or as a winner, depending on who you ask), Butler wasn’t arriving with everything handed to him.
He joined the team of one of the greatest players of the 21st century: Stephen Curry. And it was to make the most of the final years of the greatest player in franchise history that Golden State brought in a star sidekick last February – a franchise player who led his team to the NBA Finals in 2023, clearly closer to the end than the beginning, but whom the front office believed could become a luxury second option. His impact was felt immediately, as he delivered a monster performance to help the team get through the play-in against the Grizzlies. But injuries quickly caught up with him, and he paid the price in the playoffs. So there was already doubt about whether he’d be the one to give this Warriors generation a shot at one last ring.
With Steph Curry at 37, Butler at 36, and Draymond Green at 35, this looked like a last-chance season. Sure, there’s one more left, since the trio (who will cost a staggering $140 million next season) are under contract until 2027. But “Buckets” will need time to recover from such a serious injury – if he ever does. And the Warriors will soon have some tough decisions to make.
