Jimmy Butler cannot wait for the start of the next calendar year.
The Warriors will begin their 2026-2027 NBA season in just a few days, but Butler will not take part in the early portion of the campaign as he recovers from his torn ACL. Butler injured his knee in January, missed the rest of the season, and the Warriors missed the playoffs as a result.
The Warriors were right in the mix until Butler got hurt, but his injury depleted their star power and depth. Speaking to ESPN’s Anthony Slater, Butler said he felt that he let his superstar teammate Steph Curry and the rest of the Warriors’ core down by getting hurt, with the team eager to win another ring for Curry before he retires.
“I really felt like I let Steph down,” Butler told Slater. “I let Draymond [Green] down. I let Steve [Kerr] down. Because they took a chance. If you don’t know me and you haven’t been around me, you don’t know what I’m about because of the things that you may read and hear. But they said, ‘F— all of that s—. This motherf—er knows how to win.’ They took a chance, and I felt I let them down.”
Butler’s addition to the team has proven valuable, given how his first season in Golden State went. The Warriors acquired Butler in a trade in February 2025 and went 23-8 the rest of the regular season to sneak into the playoffs.
From there, they beat the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets in the first round, and if it weren’t for Curry injuring his hamstring, the internal belief was that they could have beaten the Minnesota Timberwolves and advanced to the Western Conference finals. Butler’s value is evident, with Kerr echoing that sentiment to Slater.
“He’s such an alpha,” Kerr told Slater. “Everyone feels so confident when he’s on the floor. He’s also a total wiseass. The humor, the dynamic that exists with him in the locker room. There’s just a sense of swagger that you have when Jimmy’s on your team. So, it felt like we lost that instantly.”
Butler, drafted No. 30 overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2011 NBA Draft, has accomplished a lot in his career, including earning six All-Star selections, five NBA All-Defensive team selections and five All-NBA selections. The only thing he is missing is an NBA title and wants to do everything in his power to help Golden State reach that goal again.
“I just want to help those guys win another Jimmy Butler feels he let Steph Curry, Warriors down after injury – NBC Bay Area, man,” Butler told Slater. “And get me one. I felt I let them down. Now, as I’m going through this rehab process, as I’m starting to move and run and jump, I’m like, oh s—, I could still do it. And that’s why I say y’all motherf—ers going to be real shocked if y’all think I’m going to come back and be some bum a– player.”
Butler is 37 years old, though, and while he believes he can still play at a high level when he returns, there may be doubts about whether he will still be an effective player. But he is not letting the doubters affect him, instead staying focused on making up for lost time.
“I don’t give a f—, honestly,” Butler told Slater. “I bet y’all not going to leave me. I bet no team going to be like, ‘Oh, no, don’t guard that guy.’ They’re not going to do that. I bet whenever I step on the floor, they’re going to send more than one body. I bet you’re still going to foul me. So what are we talking about here?”
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