Jimmy Butler expected to make Warriors debut vs. Bulls
Today at 07:18 PM
The Golden State Warriors struck out on Kevin Durant at the trade deadline, but they struck gold by landing Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat to give Stephen Curry a second star to play with. The Warriors are trying to make the most of Curry’s final years as an elite player, and now they have another top player to make a playoff run with.
Warriors fans won’t have to wait very long to see Butler in the blue and gold. He is off the injury report and will make his debut with the team on Saturday night against the Bulls in Chicago, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Curry and Draymond Green are both off the injury report as well, so the Warriors will get to see how its three pillars all play together.
The Warriors desperately need Butler to come in and contribute right away after back-to-back losses on Wednesday and Thursday against the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Warriors had chances to win both games, but especially against Utah when they had an 11-point lead with less than three minutes to go.
After those losses, the Warriors now sit in a tie for 10th place in the Western Conference at 25-26 and are scrapping and clawing for a spot in the play-in tournament. With 31 games left to go, there isn’t a lot of time to get Butler settled in and acclimated with the team, but Steve Kerr and company are going to have to figure it out.
Butler is going to be an interesting fit in Golden State due to the lack of perimeter shooting around Curry at the moment. The Warriors have been starting Green, a non-shooter himself, next to an interior big man in either Kevon Looney or Trayce Jackson-Davis a lot this season when they have been healthy. Adding Butler into that lineup would give them three players that opposing defenses wouldn’t have to worry a ton about on the perimeter, which could make it difficult to score.
One thing that Kerr has been doing to help with that is starting young center Quinten Post, who can shoot it a little bit from the outside. Post isn’t playing a ton of minutes, but he does help stagger the non-shooters in the lineup to help the Warriors maintain their spacing. It will be interesting to watch what Kerr decides to do with the lineup once Butler joins the team.
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