{"id":761305,"date":"2026-06-26T00:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T00:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/761305\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T00:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T00:07:15","slug":"jimmy-butler-shares-acl-injury-update-warriors-expectations-nbc-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/761305\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Butler shares ACL injury update, Warriors expectations \u2013 NBC Bay Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little more than five months have passed since the Warriors\u2019 2025-26 NBA season went in the tank<\/a> when Jimmy Butler sustained a torn right ACL.<\/a><\/p>\n

Taking basketball away from Butler has been a cruel form of punishment<\/a>. Having his movements restricted and not being able to hoop whenever he feels like it is a new form of frustration for the six-time All-Star. His motivation can\u2019t be any higher, and Butler is doing his all to attack rehab to the best of his ability each and every day.<\/p>\n

On Thursday during a corporate event in which Butler was part of a panel that introduced IREN as the Warriors\u2019 new jersey patch, he gave insight into where he\u2019s at mentally and physically. To keep it simple, Butler\u2019s counting down the days until he\u2019s back on the court wearing a Warriors jersey again, wishing he could speed up time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s frothing at the chance to be Steph Curry\u2019s<\/a> co-star again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI got some time, but I promise I\u2019m trying to get back to basketball,\u201d Butler said. \u201c… As soon as I can get back on the floor, being the Robin to Steph\u2019s Batman, I will be back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors had won 12 of their last 16 games when Butler went down to injury. They then lost their next two games, and 11 days after Butler\u2019s torn ACL, Curry was out for the next two months because of complications to runner\u2019s knee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Butler and Curry played, the Warriors liked their chances against anybody. When they didn\u2019t, they were at the bottom of the barrel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors went 23-15 with Butler in the lineup last season, and 20-13 when both Curry and Butler played in the same game. After Butler\u2019s injury, in which Curry missed the majority of games, the Warriors had a 12-26 record the rest of the regular season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Championship hopes and a chance to contend were Butler and the rest of the Warriors\u2019 outlook going into the season. Going 37-45 while completely missing the playoffs wasn\u2019t part of anybody\u2019s plans. Last season isn\u2019t changing Butler\u2019s outlook on the Warriors going into next season, even though he will miss at least the start of the 2026-27 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why? Batman is why.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got Steph on our team?\u201d Butler asked back sarcastically to a question on his honest expectations. \u201cShit, we\u2019re going to win. I\u2019m a firm believer that Steph is one of the greatest players to ever play this game. His talent is game-changing alone. You legitimately always have a chance when Steph is on the floor, no matter the time \u2013 fourth quarter, second quarter, overtime \u2013 so he, we, are expected to win at a high level, and I think we are going to do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Warriors owner Joe Lacob also was part of the panel. The message he sent was the Warriors are going to do whatever it takes to climb the mountain top again, despite so many obstacles in their way and history not being on their side with the ages of their top players, like Butler and Curry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you this: Nobody\u2019s going to outwork us,\u201d Lacob said. \u201cNobody, I won\u2019t say outspend us, but you know what I mean. We commit the resources to whatever we do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The start of that began Tuesday and Wednesday in the NBA draft when the Warriors added Yaxel Lendeborg in the first round (No. 11) and Lajae Jones in the second (No. 54). Then on Thursday, veteran center Al Horford declined his $6 million player option to remain on the Warriors with a reported two-year, $14 million contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the first round of the draft, though, cameras caught Lacob in what looked like an intense exchange with general manager Mike Dunleavy as the Warriors were on the clock. Dunleavy later that night clarified Lacob\u2019s excitement in adding Lendeborg, which continued Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt couldn\u2019t have gone any better for us,\u201d Lacob said. \u201cWe got the guy we were looking to get. I think he\u2019s a game-changer. \u2026 I just think this guy is fantastic. Good day in Warriors history, mark my words.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Butler also showed his nod of approval for Lendeborg. He later told reporters he likes that Lendeborg speaks his mind and that \u201che\u2019s going to be very good.\u201d Butler also gave more of an update on his current knee rehab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At this point, Butler says he already is able to dunk a basketball but not land on his right leg. He can\u2019t jump off two feet yet. He can dribble and has shot threes from a chair sitting down. If Butler had to guess, he\u2019s about a month and a half from running.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been making some incredible progress,\u201d Butler said to reporters. \u201cI\u2019m actually very happy. I just want it to happen quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A little more than five months have passed since the Warriors\u2019 2025-26 NBA season went in the tank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,25308,459,82,88145],"class_list":["post-761305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-warriors-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}