After a lengthy drama in which 14-year veteran Jimmy Butler openly feuded with his team, the Miami Heat, the Golden State Warriors finally swooped in and took the controversial four-time All-Star off Miami’s hands in a trade. That single move appears to have completely reversed the Warriors’ fortunes and put the five-time NBA champions firmly in contention for a sixth — or an eighth counting the two won by the franchise when it was located in Philadelphia.
When Butler joined the Warriors on February 8, Golden State was muddling along with a 25-26 record, looking like a shadow of the team that won three titles in four straight trips to finals, all against the Cleveland Cavaliers, from 2015 through 2018 — and another in 2022, defeating the Boston Celtics.
The addition of Butler changed everything. Starting with his first game, in which they defeated the Chicago Bulls 132-111 with Butler pouring in 25 points, the Warriors won 23 of their last 31 games to capture the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference. That meant they had to win a play-in game against the No. 8 seed Memphis Grizzlies, which they did by a 121-116 score.
Butler Suffers Injury Damaging Warriors Title Dreams
In the opener of their first-round series against the Houston Rockets, Golden State won again. But in Game Two on Wednesday, whatever championship visions they may have entertained came crashing down with Butler who fell hard to the floor late in the first quarter of what turned out to be a 109-94 loss for the Warriors.
Butler suffered a painful “pelvic contusion” and was ruled out of the game. When he will return to action remains unclear.
The play that caused Butler’s injury started when the Rockets’ young star Amen Thompson collided with Butler in mid-air as the two players contested a rebound off a missed shot by Thompson. But the play immediately sparked outrage among Warriors fans and even some media members, who called Thompson’s play on Butler “dirty.” Or worse.
“The more times I watch the Amen Thompson undercut of Jimmy Butler the more I see it as a dirty play,” wrote San Francisco sports radio host Dan Dibley on his X (formerly Twitter) account. “He loses his balance a bit but extends both arms into Jimmy’s legs and sends him spinning into the air. Should’ve been a Flagrant 1 at least.”
Warriors Coach Defends Player Who Hurt Butler
Other Warriors fans were less civil in their online reactions, some using profanity to express their thoughts and their agreement that the play was “dirty.”
But Thompson had one prominent and unexpected defender — Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who spoke out on the play and dismissed the claim that Thompson did anything “dirty” to cause Butler’s injury.
“I asked our guys behind the bench—they just said it looked like there was some physicality on the rebound. And I think Thompson just inadvertently found himself underneath Jimmy just based on the tug of war that was going on there,” Kerr said, though he admitted that he had not reviewed film of the play.
“We didn’t think there was anything wrong with the play,” Kerr continued. “Just one of those plays.”
The Butler collision was not the first time this season that Thompson, the Rockets’ first-round draft pick in 2023, fourth overall out of Overtime Elite, was involved in a controversy over a physical altercation.
In a December game against the Heat, Thompson got tangled up with Miami star Tyler Herro and then grabbed Herro by the jersey and threw him to the floor.
