Jimmy Butler’s promise to Warriors fans amid positive ACL injury update

WASHINGTON D.C.– While his season is over, and his return to the basketball court is still a long way out, Jimmy Butler remains in good spirits as he begins his road to recovery. The Golden State Warriors star spoke to the media for the first time since he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in his right knee back in late January.

“Feel like I just had surgery on my ACL five weeks ago,” Butler said while seated at his locker, his two silver crutches tucked right beside him. “All in all, I’m good. Happy.”

Butler’s words juxtaposed the state of his knee.

With his legs stretched out, you could see the long scars running across the swollen, surgically repaired right knee he’d just had operated on, on February 9th– a sight that signals Butler is in the early stages of the long recovery process that is rehabbing a torn ACL. And those first stages of rehab haven’t been easy.

“[It’s been] tough not being around my guys,” Butler said of his last five weeks. “Hard not being able to play the game I love. And not being able to travel. Tough, but the rehab has been going. We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing to try to get back on the timeline.”

But like the positive and introspective guy Butler’s always been, he maintained perspective on his situation.

“It’s not all bad, I still get to tell people I’m an NBA players. So I’m happy about that,” Butler said before gesturing at two-way players Nate Williams and Malevy Leons, two lockers over.

“There are still some wonderful guys who are taking advantage of their opportunity, with some guys being down. That was me at one point back in my Chicago days. So I get very happy, and it makes me smile when I see people play well. And then, you know, I got my family around, kids around. And then I just know that I’m working back towards something. So it all keeps you in perspective.”

Warriors’ season post-Jimmy Butler injury

With the state his knee was in post-surgery, Butler was only recently cleared to fly, hence why he made it a priority to rejoin the team amidst their grueling six-game road trip, a much-needed morale boost for a team struggling to stay afloat.

Golden State’s gone 7-16 since Butler tore his ACL against the Miami Heat on January 19th. Shortly after Butler went down, Stephen Curry followed suit, going down with patellofemoral pain syndrome and bone bruising in his knee. Without their two stars, the Warriors have fallen to ninth in the West.

And with injuries to other players across their roster, they are in danger of falling further down to tenth with the Portland Trail Blazers hot on their tails. In New York, the Warriors were missing over $190-million in salary, fielding a rotation that included three two-way players and another on a 10-day contract.

“We’re about as beaten up as any team I can ever remember,” Kerr said after the Minnesota Timberwolves loss.

Butler’s recovery timeline

As such, it’s safe to say the Warriors have desperately missed Butler. But as for when they’ll get him back once he recovers from this latest injury, the timeline remains to be seen.

“I do want to come back,” Butler said when asked if he knows when he’ll be able to return.

“We all know that. I can’t say when, obviously. [But] as early as I can to help my guys win some games. But like you probably hear me say a ton, whenever my body’s ready, like this one, of all other injuries, major, minor, whenever my body’s ready, I promise I’m trying to get back out.”

To get his knee back where he wants it to be, Buter’s attacking his rehab with a competitive edge, a very Jimmy Butler way of going about his recovery. Butler and his rehab team have a chart hung up on the wall with week-to-week goals he has to hit. Goals like gaining knee flexion and bending it a certain number of degrees. His next goal, at the six-week mark in his rehab, is to get off his crutches.

“So in a week, you can buy [my] crutches,” Butler joked, pointing at one of the reporters around his locker.

The chart has become Butler’s obsession, in the best way possible. His livelihood was taken away from him in an instant. A livelihood in which competition was at the heart of everything. So being able to structure his rehab like a competition allows Butler to maintain that aspect of his life.

“I look at it all the time,” Butler said. “But also, everything we do in rehab is about competing. You know, whether it’s today versus yesterday. What my numbers are about compared to other people’s in the past. Say no names, but it’s competing to see if you can be better than they were. Be better than you were yesterday. So it makes me lock in. Because I at least get to compete that way.”

So while those scars on Butler’s knee weigh heavily on his body, his spirits remain intact. If anything, as strong as ever.

“I’m just going to focus in on me and come back the best version of myself.”

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