The Warriors' quiet summer has everyone looking ahead to 2027, but the player who could swing next season is already on the roster.
Most of the conversation around Golden State this summer has centered on Stephen Curry's future, a flat free agent market, and the flexibility coming in 2027.
Jimmy Butler barely comes up at all, which is strange, because the last time anyone saw him healthy he was the second best player on the roster and one of the most efficient scorers at his position.
A torn ACL has a way of pushing a 36-year-old out of the spotlight.
It should not push him out of the plans, and it should not make anyone forget what he was doing before he went down.
A Season Cut Short
Butler was having a strong first full year in the Bay before everything stopped.
He averaged 20.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists while shooting 51.9 percent from the floor and 37.6 percent from three, starting all 38 games he played.
Then came January 19 against Miami, when he tore the ACL in his right knee during a win over his former team.
He had surgery in early February, the Warriors never recovered, and a season that began with real hope ended at 37-45, 10th in the Western Conference, with a play-in loss to Phoenix in April.
Steve Kerr told ESPN in June that Butler's injury changed everything, and the record backs him up.
The Numbers
The easy take is that a 36-year-old coming off a torn ACL is finished as a difference maker.
The numbers from before the injury argue the opposite.
Butler was scoring 20.0 points a night on some of the best shooting of his career, he was still drawing fouls and hitting 86.4 percent at the line, and he was doing it while fitting cleanly next to Curry instead of fighting him for the ball.
A six-time All-Star does not usually shoot better than 50 percent from the floor at that stage of his career, but Butler was doing it.
"I know I'm still going to be a top player whenever I get back," Butler told ESPN in late June. "I have a couple good years left in me, and we're going to ride it until the wheels fall off."
The Quietest Addition of the Summer
The front office has had a quiet summer by any standard, and that is exactly why Butler means so much.
Golden State brought back Draymond Green on a one-year deal and made no major outside additions, so the biggest upgrade on next season's roster is a healthy Butler walking back into the lineup.
He hopes to be back early in the season, and he has said he wants to play as many games as he can.
There is a business angle too, since Butler is on a $56.8 million expiring contract and cannot be extended until February of 2027.
With Moses Moody recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon and possibly out for most of the year, the Warriors will need everything Butler gave them last season.
Betting against him has been a losing play for a decade, and a motivated Butler in a contract year might be the best weapon nobody is discussing.
