The Jimmy Butler injury has massive ramifications for the Golden State Warriors going forward. After the star forward tore his ACL against the Miami Heat on Monday, it seemed clear that the team’s slim championship hopes were dashed.
While that is a brutal reality the Warriors are learning to accept, veteran Draymond Green provided a great reminder of the human element involved in Butler’s injury.
Draymond Green tells heartbreaking Jimmy Butler story after injury
Green talked about the injury on his podcast and shared the following heartbreaking anecdote about Butler’s reaction to his season-ending injury in the locker room:
“First thing he said, sitting in that locker room was, ‘Man, I’m supposed to take my kids to the arcade in the morning.’ He said it four different times: ‘I’m not going to be able to take my kids to the arcade in the morning.’ Then we talked a little more. ‘Man, I’m supposed to take my kids to the arcade.’ That’s all he kept saying. He was just in this state of delirium. Completely delirious. I can only imagine what he felt, but he just kept saying, ‘I’m supposed to take my kids to the arcade.’”
While we as fans obviously care most about wins and losses, those sorts of human moments are the ones that often go unseen. That shows how Butler’s mind was clearly just reeling trying to process what had happened, and it shows the kind of person he is that he was primarily focused on not being able to spend time with his kids.
Surely, he must have also been thinking about how his injury likely means his chances of winning an NBA championship are over. He was traded to the Warriors last season with the hope that he could provide enough talent alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to give the team one more realistic chance at making a playoff run.
The 2024-25 season might have been that trio’s best chance as the Warriors were great after trading for Butler, winning their Play-In game which earned them a series with the Houston Rockets. They had momentum after winning that series in seven games and looked determined to make a run in Game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but a hamstring injury to Curry ended that season too soon.
Now, the Warriors have been felled by yet another injury.
It’s not the biggest shock considering the Warriors had such an old roster coming into this season. Injuries are a big deal for every team, but especially one like Golden State where they really needed to get lucky and not have any of their stars go down for an extended period of time.
Looking back, perhaps we all should have realized just how precariously this roster was built. With so many old players and not enough proven young talent, it was always going to be a tough needle to thread, but what makes it more frustrating is that the Warriors were seemingly finding their stride right when Butler went down.
Sure, the team was in a bit of a soft spot of the schedule as their opponents were not that tough and they were at home for most of the games, but maybe they could have finally built some confidence and momentum for the rest of the season.
Now, it's not altogether clear where the Warriors go from here. They still need to resolve the Jonathan Kuminga saga and see if they can get some sort of impact player in return. Maybe someone like DeMar DeRozan gives them a realistic chance to be a Play-In team.
It’s an absolute shame that Butler’s season had to end this way. He knows that at 36-years-old, an injury like this could mean he doesn't have much career left. He had every reason to feel bad and pout about his bad luck, but in the moment all he could think about was his kids which is as heartbreaking as it gets.