As the sun is shining and the heat has come to San Francisco, a dark cloud has hung over the Warriors far too often over the last two months since Jimmy Butler’s season ended from a torn ACL. 

Butler and Warriors coach Steve Kerr had been texting the past few days, so it was no surprise when the team’s fallen star entered Capital One Arena on Monday ahead of Golden State’s game against the Washington Wizards. Many others had no idea Butler was on his way. Coach knows best, and he knew Butler’s presence alone would bring a smile to everybody in the road locker room. 

“It’s a huge boost emotionally having Steph [Curry] on this trip. It was a big deal. He wasn’t on the last trip and you could feel his absence. So having both guys here tonight will be a big lift for our team emotionally,” Kerr said during his pregame press conference. 

Yes, it’s the Washington Wizards. No, the Warriors didn’t play perfectly. But they’ll take beating a local YMCA team if it means snapping a five-game losing streak, and having Curry and Butler in the same building to root them on was only an added bonus. 

It was all the way back on Jan. 19 when Butler rolled on the ground and grabbed at his knee. He underwent surgery on Feb. 9 and for the first time was able to be at a Warriors game. No matter where the game took place, Butler was going to be there. 

He recently got the go ahead to fly and made the cross-country trek to Washington D.C. from Southern California, where he underwent surgery and is doing his rehab. 

“I finally got to fly. … I got to fly, so I was like, ‘I got to be around my guys. I don’t give a damn where it’s at.’ If I can be here, I wanted to be here,” Butler said to reporters. 

The Warriors on Monday played their second game of a six-game road trip. They fell to the New York Knicks on Sunday and next play the Celtics in Boston on Wednesday. From there, they go to Detroit, Atlanta and Dallas before their next home game on March 25 against the Brooklyn Nets. 

Butler, nor the Warriors, said if he will remain with the team throughout the rest of the road trip. He did make it clear he’s ready to be in the Bay Area again soon, though. 

“I’ve got to come back to the Bay,” Butler said. “And that’s a lot quicker than coming from Southern California all the way to D.C. I’ll be back in the Bay. I got a lot of familiar faces I got to see.” 

Prior to Butler’s devastating injury, the Warriors had won 12 of 16 games and appeared on the fast track of making everybody in the Western Conference afraid to play them in a seven-game series. Since, the Warriors have gone 8-16 and Curry has played in only five of those 24 games, including none of the last 18. 

Without being able to put a return date on the calendar, Butler, who turns 37 years old in September, reiterated he of course wants to come back. Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton made his return from a torn ACL exactly one year to the date of his surgery this season, but he also is nearly 10 years younger than Butler. 

“Whenever my body’s ready, I promise I’m trying to get back out there,” Butler said. 

If there’s anybody that knows how grueling it is to be sidelined from the game you love, it’s newest Warrior Kristaps Porzingis. The two don’t have previous experience with each other, yet Porzingis automatically could see what it meant to the Warriors to have Butler in their presence. 

“I can tell the team loves him,” Porzingis said. “Just for him to be around, that’s pretty cool. To be on crutches but still be around the team, hats off to him.” 

The next step in Butler’s rehab is a holiday for anybody who has gone through an injury: Getting rid of crutches, which he’s set to do in one week on March 23. Motivation is everywhere around Butler. When he rehabs, he stares at a fancy chart on a wall that allows him to do what he always has done best – compete. 

That’s who Butler is at his core, a competitor. There’s joy in competing. Kerr and the Warriors for more than a decade has made the combination one of their pillars of success. Butler’s chart allows him to compare himself to other past NBA players who have gone through the same injury and rehab, competing against them and himself day by day. 

He and the Warriors remain his bedrock while Butler gawks at numbers and progress. A long list of players have come back from a torn ACL, yet the journey that must be the focus is solely his own. 

“Nah,” Butler said. “I’m just gonna focus in on me and come back as the best version of myself.” 

The Warriors can’t know what that version is going to be, and neither can Butler. But every day Curry is around the team in his own rehab is a boost. Every appearance Butler makes is a reminder. 

The more they’re both in the same building, the organization and its fanbase can dream of merrier times in the future, however distant that might feel.

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