Jimmy Butler R of Golden State Warriors celebrates scoring with teammate Jonathan Kuminga during the 2024-2025 NBA regular season game between Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks in San Francisco, the United States, March 15, 2025. (Photo by Arthur Dong/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
The Golden State Warriors’ dreams of winning a fifth championship with Stephen Curry might have been dealt a fatal blow Monday night. As ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported, star forward Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 135-112 over the Miami Heat and will miss the remainder of the season.
After stumbling out to a 13-15 start this season, the Warriors went 12-4 over the past month to rise to eighth in the Western Conference. However, although the Warriors buried the Heat in a barrage of three-pointers after Butler went down Monday, he recently described the team as “mediocre.” Where does that leave them now that they’ll be without their second-leading scorer moving forward?
All roads now lead back to exiled forward Jonathan Kuminga, who officially became trade-eligible on Jan. 15 and demanded a trade that same day, according to Charania. Kuminga began the season as a starter and initially fared well in that role, although he fell out of favor yet against with head coach Steve Kerr by mid-November and has played sparingly since. His last appearance came roughly one month ago in a 99-98 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
“I’m disappointed for him that things didn’t continue to go the way they did the first couple of weeks,” Kerr told reporters earlier this month. “At the same time, it was gonna be tricky to start JK, Jimmy, Draymond [Green], at the 2, 3 and 4. I think anybody can see that’s a tough combination, in a five-man combination, based on shooting.
“Sometimes, Steph [Curry] can just offset every spacing obstacle in your way. He’s that good. But in the modern NBA, I think it’s gonna be tough to do that, and I think we recognize that. We gave that lineup several weeks, and eventually, I think the weaknesses of the lineup were exposed, and that’s why we went in a different direction.”
With Butler now sidelined indefinitely, Kerr can’t fall back on that excuse anymore. Kuminga’s usage—or lack thereof—over the next two weeks could speak volumes about how the Warriors now plan to attack the trade deadline in the wake of Butler’s injury.
Should The Warriors Still Trade Kuminga?
According to Marcus Thompson II, Sam Amick and Nick Friedell of The Athletic, the Warriors expected Kuminga to play on Jan. 2, when they rested all three of Butler, Curry and Green against the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, he popped up on the injury report with “lower back soreness” shortly before the game and did not suit up. Multiple team sources told The Athletic that they suspected Kuminga “wasn’t actually hurt.”
After Monday’s game, a reporter asked Kerr whether Kuminga could get back into the rotation if Butler’s injury proved to be serious. Kerr offered a one-word response: “Absolutely.” The reporter followed up to ask whether he was “ready,” to which Kerr replied plainly: “Yep. Yep.”
Sources told Charania that the relationship between Kerr and Kuminga is now “fractured beyond repair.” Unfortunately for Kuminga, he doesn’t have much recourse in this situation, particularly if the Warriors’ medical staff clears him to play. If he refuses to suit up at that point, the league’s collective bargaining agreement contains a specific section about how teams can penalize players who withhold services.
If Kuminga can put his bad blood with Kerr to the side, Butler’s injury theoretically should open a clear role for him moving forward. The Warriors will still be built around Curry and Green’s “chaos at both ends,” as Kerr told reporters at the beginning of the season, but they’ll need another go-to scorer in Butler’s absence. Kuminga has the best shot out of anyone on the roster to fill that role.
Prior to Butler’s injury, Kuminga was seen as a $22.5 million luxury for the Warriors. Had they dangled him and Buddy Hield, who only has $3 million of his $9.7 million salary for the 2026-27 season fully guaranteed, they could offer nearly $30 million in financial relief to any team looking to shed a longer-term contract. Now, the Warriors might need to lean on Kuminga again out of necessity.
That is, of course, assuming the Warriors continue on their current trajectory of trying to assemble a championship-caliber supporting cast around Curry. Butler’s injury could raise some bigger-picture questions about their overall approach, though.
Should The Warriors Be Thinking Bigger?
The Warriors already might be too far ahead in the standings to catch bottom-feeders like the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers in the race to maximize their draft-lottery odds. Then again, the Dallas Mavericks won last year’s lottery—and the rights to Duke forward Cooper Flagg—despite having less than a 2% chance to do so. The Warriors have their 2026 first-round pick, so if Butler’s injury sends them into a tailspin, they could pivot into improving their chances of landing a generational prospect via a “youth movement.”
The other question is whether Butler’s injury causes the Warriors to reconsider his future in Golden State. He’s now effectively $54.1 million in dead money this season, and he turns 37 in mid-September. Even if he’s ready to return by the start of next season or early on in the year, there’s no guarantee that he gets back to his previous form given his age.
Butler won’t have much trade value now that he’s out for the year, but he could provide some long-term cap relief since he’s only under contract through 2026-27. Would the Philadelphia 76ers be open to flipping Paul George, who has one extra year on his deal, for Butler? What about the Dallas Mavericks with Anthony Davis?
Would the Sacramento Kings be open to taking him on for Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and/or Domantas Sabonis, particularly if the Warriors attached future draft picks? Would the Brooklyn Nets be open to the same with Michael Porter Jr.? Could the Warriors use Butler’s contract to buy low on Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant or Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, both of whom are under contract for longer than Butler?
Since Butler’s injury effectively ends the Warriors’ title chances this year, they could always decide to stand relatively pat at the trade deadline and revisit a bigger shakeup in the offseason. They have a $24.3 million team option on Kuminga in 2026-27 that they could pick up to facilitate an offseason trade, particularly if he rebuilds his value over the next two-plus months in Butler’s absence. At that point, they might have a better sense of when to expect Butler back, too.
Even prior to Butler’s injury, the Warriors were posturing that they didn’t feel imminent pressure to move Kuminga and that they were willing to keep him beyond the trade deadline if need be. Butler’s injury might have pushed them even further in that direction. That could shake up the trade-deadline landscape leaguewide.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryantoporek/2026/01/20/jimmy-butlers-torn-acl-changes-the-warriors-nba-trade-deadline-approach/
