SAN FRANCISCO — Late in the Golden State Warriors’ season finale, a visual concerning enough to cause worry gripped Chase Center. It was Jimmy Butler. Limping severely. Grimacing vividly. It wasn’t immediately clear why. But his ailment looked to be grave enough to warrant dread.
Could he finish the game? How bad is it? How long will he be out? Does this mean Jonathan Kuminga is needed again? Was the trade worth it if Butler gets hurt when he’s needed most?
These questions, embedded in the groans of Warriors fans, were irrelevant. He hobbled and scowled but never left the court. When the whistle blew for play to resume, the signs of his pain disappeared. Not even a knee to the thigh from a suspected cyborg in the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard would keep Butler off the court.
Playoff Jimmy was here.
“I’ll be aiight,” Butler said. “Go home and play some dominoes, drink some coffee. That’ll help me feel better.”
He played 48 minutes in the 124-119 overtime loss in Sunday’s regular-season finale. Butler scored 30 points and went blow-for-blow with the best version of Leonard.
Butler couldn’t overcome Steph Curry’s late turnover, or Draymond Green’s missed layup in crunch time, or the dominance on the boards by Ivica Zubac. But Butler did more than enough to make what happens next feel much more feasible.
JIMMY 💥
📺 @NBCSAuthentic pic.twitter.com/GSeSSCjmRx
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 13, 2025
Sunday was a gut punch from James Harden’s Clippers. After months of trying to avoid it, Golden State has been relegated to the Play-In portion of the postseason after being unable, for the fourth time this season, to beat the Clippers. The Warriors have been one of the best teams in the league since the trade deadline deal that brought Butler in, but they still couldn’t completely overcome the mid-season spiral that dropped them into temporary irrelevance.
Now, the Warriors are forced to face their Play-In demons if they want to earn a real playoff spot. But the Bay Area revelation of Playoff Jimmy changes the calculus.
Butler gives the Warriors another player who can take over and assert his will. Someone who can take the ball, settle everything down, and go make a play. He takes his time, finds the matchup he wants, and goes to work. He plays both ends. He delivers poise.
It seemed that down the stretch and in overtime Sunday, the Warriors should have leaned on Butler even more. He took just four shots and two free throws over the final 17 minutes of action.
“You have a guy who can kind of slow the pace of the game down for us, get us into good things,” Green said. “Just having that extra added weapon. Having another No. 1 next to Steph is different. Tonight, we didn’t capitalize on his great game, but it makes us a much more complete team. A better team.”
He also dramatically alters the rotation. It was once thought Butler could unlock Kuminga, show him the blueprint for his game. Instead, Butler has eliminated the immediate need for Kuminga in the mind of head coach Steve Kerr, who pulled the Warriors’ young star out of the rotation. The difficulty of lineups featuring Butler and Kuminga, coupled with Kuminga’s contrasting style of play compared with the Warriors’ ethos, has squeezed him out.
Kerr is leaning into Butler, which defines what is needed around Butler. Playoff Jimmy is that encompassing.
Jimmy Butler dunks during Sunday’s game. He played 48 minutes and scored 30 points, a preview of how he might change the Warriors’ playoff chances. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
This version of Butler has been dormant for most of his Warriors tenure. It was becoming worth asking if he could be the dominant performer for which he’s become known. The entire time, he assured everyone that version of him was still there.
Sunday, it was the bright side of a tough loss. Fortunately for the Warriors, not many teams have the same arsenal as the Clippers, who closed the season winning 18 of their last 21.
Beginning with Tuesday’s Play-In game against Memphis, the Warriors get two chances to make it into the postseason. Golden State, 0-3 in two Play-In Tournament appearances, desperately needs Tuesday to be its last game of the week.
Warriors fans know how this movie is going to go. The Grizzlies are going to make everything, especially Ja Morant, who shoots 3s like he’s Klay Thompson when he plays Golden State. The Warriors will either start hot and cool off, letting the foe back into the game, or get behind early as their nervous energy deters their 3-point shot. But it won’t be just on Curry to save them.
“Been excited since the trade deadline because of that,” Curry said. “We’ve got to be organized offensively. Especially if it’s a close game … Being clear on what we’re trying to do, especially offensively, where he wants the ball, his spots, the spacing around him. … We can adjust all of that and be really clear on how we’re trying to create shots, and Jmmy being a huge part of that, like he was the whole game tonight. I’ve got a lot of confidence we can figure that out.”
The only solution to these realities over the last four years has been the brilliance of Curry. When he doesn’t have it, or when the opponent dedicates itself to suffocating it, the Warriors have found answers hard to come by.
The Warriors are 2-3 in their last five elimination games — one of them Curry’s 50-point masterpiece in Sacramento in 2023. But since 2019, part of the portrait of this Warriors era is the difficulty they sometimes have in these high-pressure, must-have games. The heart palpitations they deliver to fans with their untimely turnovers, cold spells from 3, and unhealthy reliance on Curry’s magic.
When they get the complementary performance, when someone else comes up big in the clutch, the Warriors tend to win. Like when Andrew Wiggins scored 25 in an elimination Game 5 against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2023 playoffs. Or Wiggins’ 26 points in the series-defining Game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals against Boston. In that same postseason, Thompson hit Memphis for 30 in a gotta-have-it Game 6 in Chase Center.
It could be Brandin Podziemski. Or Moses Moody. Maybe Buddy Hield gets hot from 3. Maybe Green pieces together a 20-point game. Or perhaps Curry puts up 50, like he did the last time the Warriors played Memphis.
Barring any of that, the Warriors’ most probable answer will be Playoff Jimmy. He is here now. And, boy, do they need him.
(Top photo of Jimmy Butler driving against Kawhi Leonard in Sunday’s game: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)