Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler suffered a season ending ACL tear in his right knee on Monday night vs. the Miami Heat.
At the 7:41 mark of the 3rd quarter, Butler collided with Heat guard Davion Mitchell, which resulted in an awkward fall to the floor. It appeared as though his right knee got tangled up with Mitchell, and twisted upon impact.
The veteran wing would head straight back to the locker room, and would not return to the game. An MRI late last night confirmed the tear, ending his 2025-26 season prematurely.
Across 38 games for the Warriors this season, the 36 year old is averaging 20pts, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per contest. His strong on court play was part of the reason that the Warriors had won 12 of their last 16 games to begin their ascent up the Western Conference standings of late.
However, with Butler lost for the season, and Jonathan Kuminga making public trade demands, Golden State suddenly figures to be amongst the most active teams in the league heading into the February 5th trade deadline. The team’s aging core doesn’t have a ton of room for error in terms of maximizing their ever shrinking window to compete, and it’s unlikely the team will simply stand pat over the next few weeks.
Butler is slated to make $56.8M next season in the final year of his contract, while Curry will count for $62.5M against the cap in his age 38 season. Draymond Green has a $27.6M player option he could pick up in his age 36 season next year, meaning that the team likely has one final go around the block in 2026-27 before needing to close the book on this iteration of the team.
For now though, Golden State won’t have long to feel sorry for themselves as they’ll need to regroup for a home game against the Toronto Raptors Tuesday night.
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