The Warriors are already getting back to work for the next NBA season, and Jimmy Butler remains the swing piece in how far this group can go. The roster is mostly unchanged from last year, which keeps expectations modest, but Butler’s presence still looms over everything Golden State wants to do.
The encouraging part is that his rehab is moving in the right direction. Butler hasn’t played since January while recovering from a right ACL tear, but Anthony Slater reported that he has been rehabbing all summer to rebuild strength in the knee. He is still a long way from returning to game action, yet the progress has been steady and he continues to stay involved as a veteran voice.
“He just spent his birthday this week in Brazil, hanging out with Neymar. He’s had a good summer as far as the rehab goes.
He’s very much in the middle months, the middle stages of his long ACL rehab,” said Anthony Slater. “I’ve heard good updates on the progress of the strengthening of his knee, but he’s still months away from being on an NBA court.
The team is going to open camp in Hawaii in a couple of weeks, and he’s expected to be able to do some individual stuff on the side. Eventually, he’ll hit the checkpoints, but even though he won’t be on the court to start the season, he is still obviously a big leader for the team and, from what I’ve heard, he’s going to gather the team for an organized player-only event next week in Southern California.”
That kind of involvement matters for a team that brought him in to help Steph Curry in the final stretch of his career. Golden State landed Butler, 37, in a multi-team trade in February of 2025 that included Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, and Dennis Schroder, among others. With six All-Star nods, five All-NBA selections, and multiple Finals trips on his résumé, the Warriors believed they had the right veteran to fit their window.
They also never expected the injury to hit just 38 games into the 2025-26 campaign. Butler’s absence has fueled plenty of doubt around the team, but the latest word suggests there is at least some optimism that he may be ahead of his original recovery timeline. More than that, he is still acting like someone invested in the group, not just his own rehab.
That showed up again with the planned player-only event in Southern California next week. For Golden State, that is another sign Butler is still leading even while he works his way back.
The question now is how much of that version of Butler the Warriors can count on once he returns. In 2025-26, he averaged 20.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game while shooting 51.9% from the field. Those numbers gave the Warriors the kind of production they need from him again if they want to keep pace in the West with the Thunder, Spurs, and Timberwolves.
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