The Golden State Warriors had every intention of playing Jimmy Butler in their starting five on Saturday night. Suddenly, Butler was mysteriously ruled out.
According to the Warriors, Butler was ruled out due to personal reasons. Considering he wasn’t on the injury report for any reason beforehand, caused many NBA fans to raise eyebrows over the late status decision.
Steve Kerr Addresses Butler’s Absence
After the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was asked about Butler’s status. Since it was for a personal matter, the coach didn’t go into detail.
“I got word from Mike (Dunleavy) that everything is fine,” Kerr told reporters.
The Warriors have a game coming up at home next Monday, facing Jimmy Butler’s old friend, the Miami Heat. While Kerr can’t say for sure, the head coach mentioned that he believes Butler should be good to go for the Warriors’ next matchup.
Without Butler, the Warriors took care of business against the Charlotte Hornets. Draymond Green had the hottest scoring performance out of the starting unit, posting 20 points in 27 minutes.
The veteran guard De’Anthony Melton had a scoring outburst off the bench, as he dropped 24 points on 8-16 shooting from the field, along with three assists and six rebounds in just 21 minutes of action.
The Warriors defeated the Hornets 136-116. With that win, Golden State moves to 24-19 on the year.
Although the Warriors fared well enough to win without Butler, they’ll certainly need their key starter back in the mix to help them keep their hot streak rolling. After claiming the Warriors have been off to a “mediocre start,” Butler understands they have a lot of work to do.
This season, Butler has started 37 games for Golden State. He has been knocking down 51 percent of his shots from the field, scoring 20.1 points per game, along with grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game and producing 4.9 assists per game.
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