Injured Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III, middle, reacts from the bench during the first half of Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets in San Francisco, Saturday, April 26, 2025.
Jeff Chiu/AP
All eyes around the Golden State Warriors are on Jimmy Butler’s gluteus maximus as the star tries to ramp up to playing in Game 4 against the Rockets on Monday.
Butler missed Game 3 of the Warriors-Rockets series because of a pelvic and deep gluteal muscle contusion, which he suffered in Game 2 when he crashed on the hardwood floor after a collision with Rockets’ Amen Thompson. There was hope ahead of Saturday’s game that Butler would play, including from Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who said he was “relatively optimistic” the day before Game 3. But Butler was ruled out an hour before tipoff, with ESPN’s Shams Charania reporting that Butler “literally cannot move well enough to play basketball tonight for the Warriors.”
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Shortly after the Warriors finished off their win over the Rockets without Butler, the Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported Butler did a pregame workout on Saturday and “there’s a belief he will be back” for Monday night. Kerr wasn’t as willing to show his optimism in the postgame press conference on Saturday, or in a media conference call on Sunday, saying Butler would be a game-time decision on Monday night.
So far on Monday, reporters who attended the Warriors’ morning shootaround said Butler took place in a walk-through practice with the team. San Francisco Standard columnist Tim Kawakami noted that Butler left the court just as the media was let in.
Brain trust at shootaround this morning. (fyi Jimmy Butler walked off the court as the media was let in — he was wearing a practice jersey but no definitive word on his status tonight) pic.twitter.com/82V6MeVMjI
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) April 28, 2025
On ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” NBA reporter Ohm Youngmisuk said Butler is “trending in the right direction,” and added that Warriors rookie Quinten Post told Youngmisuk that Butler “looked great” at shootaround. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Sam Gordon went on KNBR’s “Papa and Silver” midday show and reported team personnel are growing confident Butler will be on the court. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)
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“The sense I’m getting is that Butler is going to play,” Gordon said on KNBR. “I think he was relatively close on Saturday. This is a training staff that tends to err on the side of caution. He was getting treatment around-the-clock, there was certainly optimism, certainly hope on Saturday. Wasn’t quite feeling right, but with a couple days of rest, a couple extra days of treatment, with this game being a 7 p.m. start, there’s optimism that he can go.”
“The sense is that Jimmy Butler will play” –@BySamGordon tells us on @KNBR, saying that while we won’t know for sure until Butler goes through his pregame routine, he was close to playing on Saturday and the Warriors’ training staff tends to err on the side of caution.
— Greg Silver (@greg0silver) April 28, 2025
Still, no one seems to know for sure and won’t know until Butler arrives at Chase Center on Monday afternoon. Game 4 between the Warriors and Rockets is set to tip-off at 7 p.m. on TNT and NBC Sports Bay Area.
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April 28, 2025
