Ever since Jimmy Butler tore his ACL earlier this year, the calculus for the Golden State Warriors has completely changed. They went from being a team that felt like it could maybe sneak into the playoffs, to a team that limped into the Play-In. After a fairly uninspiring offseason, it seems like it will be more of the same this season.
Still, there is a way to think about the Warriors in a positive fashion. Obviously any optimistic conversation surrounding them has to be predicated on the fact that they stay healthy which is far from a given, but if they can hang in there for the first half of the season they could potentially get the best Christmas gift possible from Jimmy Butler.
Warriors cannot afford to rush Jimmy Butler's return
Per Danny Emerman of the San Francisco Standard, Butler may be targeting a Christmas Day return against the Denver Nuggets which would be a great boost for the team at that time of the year.
It’s not impossible to imagine a scenario in which the Warriors are right around .500 heading into Christmas Day. If they get Butler back and he makes some solid contributions, perhaps they can go on a little bit of a run ahead of the February trade deadline, and try to acquire a player or two who could help them try to make it into the playoffs.
However, this would be a very ideal scenario for the Warriors and Butler’s recovery would have to go pretty perfectly for him to be back on Christmas. He tore his ACL in late January of this year, and to be back in less than 12 months would be a very aggressive timeline for a 37-year-old.
The odds are his body won’t be able to recover from this injury the same way it would had it occurred earlier in his career. They need to be careful more than anything to ensure he doesn’t get hurt again.
Warriors just need to hang on until Jimmy Butler returns
Even if Christmas doesn’t work out as planned, if he came back in February or March that would almost be like making a trade deadline acquisition, just like in the 2024-25 campaign when they acquired Butler from the Miami Heat.
His return probably won’t be enough to make a title run, but if the Warriors can just hang on and remain around .500 until Butler gets back on the court, they could at least get into the Play-In with a little more momentum and some wind in their sails.
Christmas might be a bit too hopeful as a return date, but that time of year is all about believing in the impossible. Perhaps Santa will reward the Warriors after such an injury-plagued season last year.
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