SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry knew.
As he sat in front of the podium late Monday night, trying to process what Jimmy Butler’s knee injury meant to the Golden State Warriors — and himself — Curry paused, deciding he wasn’t ready to answer the question asked of him.
“I won’t talk about him being out until we know what’s going on,” Curry said.
But everyone in Chase Center already knew when Butler fell awkwardly on his right knee. An MRI later confirmed it: Butler had a season-ending ACL injury. He was done for the year.
Butler’s injury also officially closed the Warriors’ final hope of making one last title push in the Curry era. The Warriors were built, after a trade just before last season’s deadline, around two future Hall of Famers, Curry and Butler, with no runway beyond the present. Curry will turn 38 on March 14. Butler will be 37 in September. The window, in theory, was open through the end of 2026-27. Well, it closed Monday night.
No team can afford a season-ending injury to a star player. But Butler’s injury feels different. This iteration of the Warriors, with Curry at the forefront and Butler serving as an essential wingman, was built for now.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob and GM Mike Dunleavy have to acknowledge that.
Best-case scenario, Butler returns about a year from now after months of rehab. Despite dealing with numerous injuries over his career, it would be unreasonable to expect him to return at the same level. Draymond Green, who turns 36 in March, has already shown signs of regression. Without meaningful games to play, sustaining his standard high level of play becomes harder.
Curry and Green won’t leave quietly. Their pride and legacy — the one they created alongside former Warriors great Klay Thompson — means a lot to them.
The hope that followed Butler’s arrival last February and a late-season surge during which the Warriors won 12 of their last 16 games is gone. The idea that they’d be able to win another championship, as far-fetched as it seemed even before Butler got hurt, has also vanished. Expecting Curry to carry another flawed team for another season at this level, despite his greatness, is unrealistic.
Financially, the Warriors are stuck. Butler is making over $54 million this season and nearly $57 million next season while rehabbing. There is no player out there that the Warriors could acquire via trade that replaces what Butler provided next to Curry. The Warriors’ fan base, which was clamoring for a trade long before Butler’s injury, has to accept that there’s only so much Lacob and Dunleavy can do.
Some Warriors fans are still holding onto the dream of landing Giannis Antetokounmpo in a deal. As The Athletic’s Danny Leroux noted, Butler and Antetokounmpo have essentially the same cap slot in a max deal, making a swap theoretically easier during the summer when Golden State would no longer be hard-capped and able to take on more salary. If they were to wait until after the draft, the Warriors would be able to offer a wider variety of picks, including both their 2026 and 2027 selections, without being impacted by the Stepien rule.
But unless Antetokounmpo forces his way to the Bay, the Bucks would certainly receive better offers than a package built around Butler’s expiring deal and future picks/young assets. That also assumes Antetokounmpo would even ask out of Milwaukee, something he repeatedly has said he would never do. Also, it’s fair to wonder if a Warriors’ future centered around Curry, Antetokounmpo and very few future picks is much better than the one that’s staring them in the face now.
Dunleavy is stuck in no man’s land as far as any next moves go. The Warriors are hard-capped at the second apron, aging and no longer a contender. Could they package Butler’s expiring deal with other players and picks for another player? Sure, but he wouldn’t fit better than Butler.
Frankly, the more pressing short-term question for Dunleavy should be whether he should move some players to set up next season.
Lacob is competitive and badly wants to win. After Curry broke his hand in the fourth game of the 2019-20 season and missed four months, Lacob scoffed at the idea that the Warriors would tank — even though Curry’s injury, Thompson’s ACL ailment and a general lack of talent put the Warriors at 15-50 and led them to the No. 2 pick in 2020 NBA Draft, which turned out to be James Wiseman.
Over the past month, this group started to find a rhythm, at least, in part due to Butler’s renewed offensive presence and foul-drawing ability, which helped take the pressure off Curry. Without him, the Warriors would be better served to see what they can get on the market for some of their veterans.
De’Anthony Melton, who missed almost all of last season while rehabbing his own ACL injury, has really turned a corner in recent weeks. At 27, and with a player option next season that he seems likely to decline, the Warriors risk letting him walk for nothing. Wouldn’t it make more sense to get an asset in return?
Al Horford came to the Warriors believing he would have a better chance to win a championship this season than he would with the Boston Celtics. The 39-year-old has really struggled this season due to injuries and inconsistency, but his veteran presence still holds value to a contender. The Warriors are no longer one.
Jonathan Kuminga’s status remains in flux, his present clouded by speculation about his future. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Monday’s game that he was open to using Kuminga in Butler’s absence, but it’s unclear, even after Kuminga returned to the rotation Tuesday, if either side still wants a professional partnership.
All of those factors point back to the question that Curry wasn’t ready to answer out loud. Without Butler in the fold, any hope for the foreseeable future is gone. Even with Butler, the Warriors were mediocre, trying to stay afloat. Or as Kerr put it last month, “We are a fading dynasty. We know that. Everybody knows that.”
Now, the fading is over.
Curry knew it as he sat up at the podium Monday night. He just wasn’t ready to admit it.
