What does losing Jimmy Butler mean for the Warriors as we know them?

Adding Jimmy Butler fundamentally changed who the Warriors were last season — the way they played, the heights they could aspire to, their chances of playing meaningful basketball deep into springtime once again. Losing Butler on Monday to a torn right ACL — a devastating blow that sapped every ounce of sweetness out of Golden State’s fourth consecutive double-digit win — fundamentally changes who the Warriors are this season, and threatens a devastating alteration to who they could conceivably still be in the “fading dynasty” stage of the Stephen Curry/Draymond Green/Steve Kerr era.

Let’s start with the obvious: It is extremely, extremely damaging to lose a player as good as Butler, whose teams have either outright won or been demonstrably better in his minutes in every season save the one where he was trying to force his way out of Minnesota.

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Even at age 36, a crisp 15 years and nearly 35,000 NBA minutes into his career, Butler remains one of the league’s best all-around players — a high-efficiency, low-mistake offensive connector; a versatile and disruptive defender; a high-IQ adaptor able to fit neatly into the flow when playing alongside Curry and scale up into a larger, more central role when Steph’s off the floor; a consistently high-floor contributor with few peers at his position.

(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports illutration)

Butler is second on the Warriors in scoring, third in assists and rebounds, and leads them in steals and total minutes played. There are four players in the NBA this season averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal per game while making at least half of their shots: Butler, perennial MVP favorite Nikola Jokić, and ascendant All-Star-caliber bigs Alperen Şengün and Jalen Johnson.

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The advanced stats, as ever, love him: He’s been a top-15-to-20 player this season in the eyes of estimated plus-minus, LEBRON, DARKO, value over replacement player, player efficiency rating, win shares per 48 minutes, box plus-minus and regularized adjusted plus-minus, among other metrics. The…

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Author : Dan Devine

Publish date : 2026-01-20 22:00:00

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