Jimmy Butler Suffers Season-Ending Torn ACL In Right Knee
January 20, 3:49 pm: The Warriors have officially confirmed that Butler suffered a season-ending torn ACL in Monday’s game (Twitter link). He will undergo surgery to address the injury, though the team doesn’t yet know when the procedure will occur.
January 20, 2:25 am: Butler’s MRI revealed a torn ACL in his right knee, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). He will miss the rest of the season.
Sam Amick of The Athletic confirms the news (via Twitter).
The Warriors won’t be eligible for a disabled player exception in the wake of Butler’s season-ending injury, since the deadline to apply for a DPE passed on January 15.
January 19: Warriors forward Jimmy Butler suffered a right knee injury in the third quarter of Monday’s game against Miami and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest, per Angela Martin of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Butler landed awkwardly on his right knee after being bumped in the air while catching a pass from Brandin Podziemski (Twitter video link via NBC Sports Bay Area). Butler was fouled on the play by Davion Mitchell, who attempted to disrupt the pass.
Butler immediately yelled out in pain and was down on the court for a few minutes before being helped off with the assistance of Moses Moody and Gary Payton II, tweets Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. The 36-year-old was unable to put weight on his right leg.
As ESPN’s Anthony Slater observes (via Twitter), Butler has a history of right knee injuries. He tore his right meniscus in 2018 and sprained his MCL in 2024.
While the Warriors went on win Monday’s game to improve to 25-19 following a 6-1 homestand, Butler’s injury is obviously a major concern. The five-time All-NBA member is currently undergoing an MRI, according to Slater (Twitter link).
“Praying for the best, as far as scans,” said Stephen Curry.
Butler, who has also made five All-Defensive teams in his 15-year career, entered Monday averaging 20.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.4 steals on .519/.381/.862 shooting in 37 games (31.4 minutes per contest).
Butler is under contract through 2026/27. He’s making $54.1MM this season and will earn $56.8MM next season.
Eastern Notes: Thomas, Bulls, Tatum, Bucks
All signs point to Cam Thomas‘ days in Brooklyn being numbered, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required), who says most league observers he spoke to about the subject expect Thomas and the Nets to go their separate ways either at the trade deadline or in the offseason.
While a midseason trade remains possible, Thomas owns a de facto no-trade clause after accepting his one-year, $6MM qualifying offer as a restricted free agent in 2025, so he would have to sign off on any deal involving him. The 24-year-old’s value is also at a low point, Lewis notes, given that he has spent much of the past season-and-a-half battling hamstring issues and is shooting a career-worst 40.5% from the field this season.
Whether or not Thomas is traded by February 5, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent after the season, and he’ll have new representation at that time. After hiring agent Alex Saratsis of Octagon in 2024, Thomas has moved on from Saratsis and signed with Thad Foucher of Wasserman, Lewis confirms.
Here are a few more items of interest from around the Eastern Conference:
- Checking in on the Bulls‘ trade options ahead of the deadline, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times confirms that the team has talked to the Pelicans about second-year center Yves Missi and says the Timberwolves have inquired on guards Ayo Dosunmu and Tre Jones in addition to Coby White. It could be tricky for the Bulls to make a deal for Missi since they’re not looking to part with draft assets, Cowley writes.
- The Celtics have defied expectations by remaining a legitimate contender this season even without All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (subscription required). The team has a posted a 26-16 record so far, and while there’s still no formal timeline for Tatum’s return from an Achilles tear, he continues to shown signs of progress — on Monday, he went through a one-hour workout with media in attendance, per Jay King of The Athletic. Head coach Joe Mazzulla deferred to the Celtics’ medical and sports science staff on Tatum, but said it was “interesting” that the 27-year-old did Monday’s on-court drills in front of reporters after having done most of his rehab work behind closed doors.
- The Bucks snapped a three-game losing streak on Monday in Atlanta after head coach Doc Rivers replaced guard Kevin Porter Jr. with forward Kyle Kuzma in his starting five. The results were mixed – the new lineup was outscored by one point during its 20 minutes on the court – and Rivers admitted he’s not sure if he’ll stick with it, but he explained why he wanted to try a different look. “Just size. We thought putting size in the lineup would be great,” Rivers said, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “And when you do that, you have to separate the guards. And I mean, our second unit was all plus tonight, so I thought it went really well for us. Pete Nance was phenomenal.”
NBA Announces 2026 Finals Schedule
We’re still a few weeks away from the 2026 All-Star break, but the NBA has already announced the schedule for the 2026 Finals, which will tip off on June 3.
Here’s the full schedule, per the league (Twitter link):
- Game 1: Wednesday, June 3
- Game 2: Friday, June 5
- Game 3: Monday, June 8
- Game 4: Wednesday, June 10
- Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, June 13
- Game 6 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 16
- Game 7 (if necessary): Friday, June 19
Typically, the NBA Finals schedule would be announced later in the year, but the league is making some slight tweaks to its usual format this season due to the fact that the FIFA World Cup will be taking place in North America around that same time, writes Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch.
As Lewis points out, the NBA Finals almost always begin on a Thursday, and the league typically would’ve scheduled Game 4 for Friday, June 12. However, the U.S. soccer team will face Paraguay on the evening of the June 12, so the NBA has opted not to go up against that contest.
The U.S. squad will also be in action on the following Friday (June 19), but that match vs. Australia will be a day game, so it wouldn’t overlap with a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
According to Lewis, this will be the first time since 1970 that the NBA Finals schedule doesn’t include any Sunday games. Saturday matchups, like this year’s Game 5, are also rare — only one has occurred since 1981, and that was in 2021, when the schedule was affected by a COVID-19 delay, Lewis notes.
Latest On Jimmy Butler, Warriors
The Warriors have yet to officially confirm reports from late Monday night indicating that Jimmy Butler has suffered a torn ACL, but the star forward and his agent both tacitly acknowledged on Tuesday that those reports are accurate.
Butler’s initial response was brief and relatively lighthearted, given the circumstances. In an Instagram post featuring an edited photo of Butler wearing a military uniform with the caption “General Soreness,” he wrote, “Be back before you know it.”
The statement that Bernie Lee, Butler’s agent, provided to Anthony Slater of ESPN (Twitter link) was more sober and more in-depth, but Lee also attempted to look on the bright side of the lengthy recovery period facing the six-time All-Star.
“Obviously a gut punch on every level for Jimmy and the entire group, but I firmly believe that this is a part of the journey and we can’t only expect to take the good things out of it,” Lee said. “We’ve watched life happen to countless others and now it’s his turn to face this. It’s how life works.
“I’ve known for over 10 years now that Jimmy is going to win a championship before he is done. My belief in that is unwavering.
“I’ve watched Jimmy support and uplift and change the lives of countless people, including my own and now is a time for people to rally around him and offer him that same support, which we will. We will make some functional decisions here in the next few days and then we are onto the next. If you know anything about Jimmy you know exactly how he will attack this challenge. Put simply, he has this.”
Here’s more on Butler and the Warriors:
- With role players like De’Anthony Melton and Al Horford playing their best basketball of the season as of late, the Warriors had become increasingly confident about their chances of emerging as a contender if they could stay healthy, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. Instead, Amick writes, Butler’s injury could put a dagger into what head coach Steve Kerr recently referred to as a “fading dynasty.”
- With league-wide interest in Jonathan Kuminga at an apparent all-time low, Amick suggests that the fifth-year forward could help himself and the Warriors if he’s called upon to return to the rotation with Butler out. A strong couple weeks could increase the number of suitors in play for Kuminga and boost the odds that he gets his much-desired change of scenery while also putting Golden State in position to make a more favorable deal.
- In a story examining what’s next for the Warriors after Butler’s injury, Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints says that all options will be on the table for the front office, including the possibility of trading Butler.
- In case you missed it, we published a Community Shootaround discussion post this morning about the next steps in Golden State.
Raptors Rumors: Webster, Morant, AD, Agbaji, Sharpe
There have been rumblings around the NBA that Raptors general manager Bobby Webster – who is in the last year of his contract – is facing some pressure to accelerate his team’s contention timeline by making a significant in-season deal, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. However, Grange hears that’s not actually the case.
Multiple sources tell Sportsnet that Webster and the Raptors are already having “meaningful” discussions about a contract extension and that the team’s head of basketball operations has a very strong relationship with Keith Pelley, the president of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (the Raptors’ parent company).
“There’s a really good vibe,” one of Grange’s sources said of the relationship between Webster and Raptors ownership. “Everyone is comfortable with each other. The communication is good. It seems like there is a big-picture view of the whole thing. It’s kind of (an) old-school approach to dealing with management. There’s a lot of runway, and no rush. Everything has cooled off (since former Raptors president Masai Ujiri was let go last June). They’ve really come a long way, considering there was an executive search this past summer.”
Following Ujiri’s exit from Toronto, the Raptors conducted a search for a new lead basketball executive but ultimately decided to promote Webster, who had worked in the front office under Ujiri for over a decade. Pelley has no regrets about that decision and told Grange that Webster’s contract status won’t affect the team’s in-season decisions on the trade market.
“There is no pressure regarding the trade deadline or his contract,” Pelley said. “And he is 100 per cent aware of that. The team is moving in the right direction and I’m convinced that Bobby will make the right moves, at the right time, to make us better. This team under Bobby’s direction, will contend for championships.”
We have more on the Raptors:
- While Toronto has been linked to Ja Morant since word broke that Memphis is considering trading him, one insider who spoke to Grange insisted that the Raptors won’t be a serious suitor for the Grizzlies point guard. Grange also expresses skepticism about the likelihood of an Anthony Davis trade between the Mavericks and Raptors, noting that the big man – who will turn 33 in March – is the sort of win-now target who probably doesn’t make sense for Toronto right now.
- To that point, while Grange doesn’t rule out the possibility of the team making a big move sooner rather than later, he hears from multiple sources that the Raptors are prepared to be patient and may be more likely to take a big swing a year from now. As Grange observes, Toronto has a fairly young roster and head coach Darko Rajakovic has repeatedly used the word “rebuild” this season when discussing his team’s progress. While I wouldn’t describe this Raptors team – which is operating in luxury tax territory – as rebuilding, Grange’s point is that the Raptors believe there’s more room for internal development and aren’t in a rush to go all-in right away.
- Ducking the tax and adding frontcourt help still appear to be the primary deadline goals for the Raptors, according to Grange, who reiterates that wing Ochai Agbaji and his $6.4MM expiring contract is the team’s top trade candidate.
- In addition to Magic big man Goga Bitadze, who was connected to the Raptors earlier in the season, Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe is another potential frontcourt target to watch for Toronto, Grange says. He has also heard from multiple sources that second-year Pelicans center Yves Missi is available, though the Raptors’ level of interest in Missi is unclear.
Suns Reluctant To Risk Chemistry By Making Trades
Team officials “love” the chemistry the Suns have established this season and aren’t looking to make a trade ahead of this season’s deadline unless it’s an “amazing” deal, sources tell Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.
As Rankin writes, the Suns’ front office – led by general manager Brian Gregory – is open to having trade conversations leading up to February 5, but is happy with its current roster and the team’s direction.
Phoenix is also eager to see how guard Jalen Green fits in with this group, per Rankin. Green was one of the club’s major offseason additions but has been limited to just two appearances as a Sun due to hamstring issues. He’s on track to play on Tuesday for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half months. Given the timing of his return, the former No. 2 overall pick could function as a de facto deadline acquisition for the Suns.
After trading Kevin Durant and waiving Bradley Beal over the summer, Phoenix was widely viewed as a retooling team that would take a step back and end up firmly in lottery territory. However, the club has exceeded expectations and is off to a 26-17 start. While they currently hold the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, the Suns are just a single game back of the No. 4 Timberwolves.
Although the Suns are wary of shaking up their roster in a major way, that doesn’t mean they won’t make at least one minor move at the deadline. As Rankin points out, veteran big man Nick Richards is viewed as a trade candidate on his $5MM expiring contract. Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro have been Phoenix’s primary fives this season, while 2025 lottery pick Khaman Maluach is considered the team’s center of the future, making Richards the odd man out.
The Suns are also operating just narrowly above the luxury tax line, and while owner Mat Ishbia has shown a willingness in recent years to pay a premium on player payroll, ducking out of tax territory would be a financially prudent move with future repeater penalties in mind. They could accomplish that as part of a Richards trade.
Additionally, power forward is one area that the Suns may want to upgrade going forward, Rankin writes, noting that they pursued Jonathan Kuminga last summer and have been using two wings – Dillon Brooks and Royce O’Neale – as their starting forwards this season. Still, addressing the four could be an offseason priority rather than something Phoenix looks to do during the season.
Wizards Rumors: Zion, Kuminga, Salary Dumps, Middleton, More
The Wizards‘ trades for Cam Whitmore last summer and Trae Young earlier this month exhibit the front office’s willingness to roll the dice on high-upside players in need of a change of scenery, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, who hears from league sources that Washington will likely be keeping an eye out for similar opportunities at this season’s trade deadline.
Multiple sources who spoke to Robbins identified Pelicans forward Zion Williamson as one player who fits that bill. While New Orleans has reportedly told rival teams that Williamson won’t be traded this season, people around the league are skeptical that the former No. 1 overall pick is truly off limits, Robbins explains.
According to Robbins, the general consensus is that the Wizards wouldn’t give up their most valuable assets – including any of their own first-round picks – for a player like Williamson, but their “least favorable” 2026 first-rounder (which will likely be Oklahoma City’s pick) could hold some appeal to the Pelicans.
Robbins stresses that a Wizards trade for Williamson is a long shot and that the idea is mostly based on speculation, but he notes that the Pelicans forward was mentioned by several of the sources he talked to. Another player who fits into the same “distressed asset” category would be Jonathan Kuminga, Robbins adds, though multiple recent reports suggested Washington may not be among the most serious suitors for the Warriors forward.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- Although the Wizards will monitor the market for another buy-low opportunity like the one for Young, they’re more likely to operate as a “dumping ground for assets” at the deadline, Robbins writes. In other words, Washington – which is operating roughly $30MM below the luxury tax line – would be willing to take on unwanted multiyear contracts if they come attached to young players or draft picks.
- Robbins points to Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley ($32.5MM cap hit this season) and Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant ($32MM) as a couple examples of players with long-term contracts that their respective teams are looking to move off of. Quickley has three seasons on his deal beyond this one, while Grant has two more (one guaranteed year plus a player option). However, the sense is that neither Toronto nor Portland wants long-term salary relief badly enough to send out draft assets with Quickley or Grant in exchange for Khris Middleton‘s $33MM expiring contract. The Raptors and Blazers would prefer to use those contracts in deals that actually upgrade their rosters, per Robbins. “I think any smart front office would first obviously use those salaries to get better,” one rival team official told The Athletic.
- Most league sources who spoke to Robbins believe the most likely outcome with Middleton is that he remains in D.C. through the trade deadline and then emerges as a buyout candidate.
- According to Robbins, the Wizards will be reluctant to make a trade that would interfere with the development of any of their most important young players, such as big man Alex Sarr, forward Kyshawn George, guards Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington, and wing Bilal Coulibaly. However, Washington has no obvious long-term answer at power forward and should be more open to pursuing players at that position.
- Assuming they don’t acquire this sort of player at the trade deadline, the Wizards are expected to explore the free agent market during the offseason for a big man who can improve the club’s defensive rebounding and provides more rim protection, Robbins reports.
Community Shootaround: Next Steps For Warriors
Monday’s victory over Miami should have represented a new high point for the 2025/26 Warriors, who registered their fourth consecutive win and moved to six games above .500 (25-19) for the first time this season.
Instead, they’re facing an uncertain second half without star wing Jimmy Butler, who suffered a torn right ACL that will bring his season to an early end and limit the short-term ceiling of this Golden State team.
Even before Butler’s injury, there were questions about the Warriors’ ability to legitimately contend for a title this season. They’ve hovered around .500 for most of the season, and despite their recent hot streak, they still rank just eighth in the West.
Still, if the club had stayed healthy and been able to turn trade candidate Jonathan Kuminga (and maybe a draft pick or two) into another quality rotation player, it wasn’t hard to envision the Warriors securing a playoff spot and becoming a tough out in the postseason. That’s a more difficult outcome to imagine with Butler sidelined the rest of the way.
With 16 days left until February 5, the Warriors will now have to reevaluate their approach to this season’s trade deadline. Kuminga is at the center of those plans. A deal involving the former No. 7 overall pick had long seemed like a foregone conclusion, even before he demanded a change of scenery upon becoming trade-eligible last week.
But with Butler out, could there be a pathway to Kuminga reentering the rotation? The fifth-year forward has been held out of 16 games in a row and has played fewer than 10 total minutes since December 6, but head coach Steve Kerr said on Monday that he’d “absolutely” consider using Kuminga going forward.
According to Nick Friedell of The Athletic, Kuminga declined comment when approached after Monday’s game, but when Kerr was asked if the 23-year-old would be ready to play, the Warriors’ coach simply replied, “Yeah.”
Appearing on SportsCenter (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania acknowledged the possibility of Kuminga rejoining the rotation, but cited sources who say the relationship between the forward and Kerr is “fractured beyond repair.” Noting that the Kings are still interested in Kuminga after pursuing him as a restricted free agent over the summer, Charania wonders if the Warriors will instead try to use Kuminga as a trade chip to acquire a replacement for Butler, such as Sacramento’s DeMar DeRozan.
While some teams would transition from buyers to sellers after losing a maximum-salary star to a season-ending injury, that would probably be a last resort in Golden State. The Warriors want to do all they can to make the most of the time they have left with Stephen Curry, who will turn 38 in March.
Besides Kuminga, the Warriors could make players like Buddy Hield ($9.2MM cap hit) and Moses Moody ($11.6MM) available in trade talks, and they have the ability to trade multiple first-round picks and/or swaps — only their 2030 pick is partially constricted (it’ll be sent to Washington if it falls outside of the top 20).
Still, Golden State is currently operating within $300K of its second-apron hard cap and will have limited financial flexibility in trade discussions. Additionally, Butler’s contract ($54.1MM this season; $56.8MM in 2026/27) will be problematic — he won’t have any value on the trade market following his ACL tear, but building a roster capable of winning playoff series will be extremely difficult as long as his contract remains on the books and he remains off the court.
We want to know what you think. What’s next for the Warriors after Butler’s injury? Will we see Kuminga on the floor as a Warrior again? What should Golden State do at the trade deadline?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts and predictions!
Knicks Have Talked To Multiple Teams About Trading Towns
The Knicks‘ 2025/26 season reached a new low point with Monday’s 17-point home loss to the injury-ravaged Mavericks, writes Steve Popper of Newsday (subscriber link). New York trailed by as many as 30 points in the first half and was down 28 at halftime, when fans at Madison Square Garden “serenaded” the team with boos.
The Knicks have now dropped nine of their past 11 games and are in danger of falling into play-in territory after holding a 23-9 record three weeks ago. In the 10 games leading into Monday, they had the second-worst defensive rating in the NBA, Popper notes.
The team’s effort was particularly dispiriting considering the Knicks had their full complement of players available — Jalen Brunson (right ankle sprain) and Josh Hart (right ankle soreness) both returned to action following injury absences.
“Guys are gonna be banged up, guys aren’t gonna be 100 percent, it’s the dog days of the season,” Hart said, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscription required). “But the effort, I think last year no matter what we did, the effort was there. I haven’t seen this kind of effort that we had today, it was embarrassing.”
Hart admitted prior to the game that his ankle isn’t fully healthy, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
“I want to be out there to try to help the team as much as I can so (the team’s recent struggles) did (influence his decision) a little bit; a combination of that, there’s the competitiveness and the impatience that I display,” Hart said.
Two weeks ago, owner James Dolan said he expected the team to — at minimum — reach the NBA Finals. He also expressed confidence in the team’s roster and chemistry. The Knicks were promptly blown out by the top-seeded Pistons and have a 2-6 record since that public interview.
Both Popper and Bondy point out that Dolan left his courtside seat at halftime and did not return for the second half. The last time Bondy recalls that happening was during a lopsided loss in 2019, when former executives Scott Perry and Steve Mills were forced to speak to reporters after the game. Then-coach David Fizdale was fired a few days later; Mills was dismissed not long after that.
Bondy isn’t advocating for the team to fire head coach Mike Brown, which he thinks would be “reactionary and ill-advised.” But Bondy does believe a major roster shake-up is in order, and says everyone aside from Brunson and Hart should be available. That includes Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, two players the Knicks acquired in previous blockbuster trades.
Big man Towns, who has struggled to find his form under Brown, was singled out with boos twice in the fourth quarter, per Popper — once when checking out with just under five minutes remaining, and again 29 seconds later when he checked back in for Mitchell Robinson, who picked up two quick fouls.
Towns said he understood the fans’ reaction, considering the Knicks “didn’t really have a chance” to win, as Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press relays.
“Fans are doing their part and we’ve got to do our part,” Towns said.
According to Popper, “whispers” have begun to circulate around the league about the possibility of the Knicks trading Towns, whose name popped up in rumors over the summer involving the Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo. League sources tell Popper the Knicks have discussed potential Towns deals with multiple teams, including the Grizzlies, Magic and Hornets.
For what it’s worth, Bondy proposes a fake trade that would send Towns and unspecified salary filler to the Trail Blazers for Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant.
Southwest Notes: Adams, Durant, Dirk, Mavs, Morant
Rockets center Steven Adams suffered a left ankle sprain in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win over New Orleans and had to be helped off the court with assistance, notes Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
Head coach Ime Udoka told sideline reporter Vanessa Richardson after the game that Adams’ ankle already had a significant amount of swelling but X-rays were negative.
Adams looked to be in a great deal of pain when the injury occurred (YouTube link). He rolled his left ankle contesting a layup from Zion Williamson.
The 32-year-old big man has made 32 appearances this season, averaging 5.8 points and 8.6 rebounds — including a league-high 4.5 offensive rebounds — in 22.8 minutes per game.
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Rockets star Kevin Durant became the sixth-leading scorer in NBA history during Sunday’s game, passing Dirk Nowitzki (31,560), tweets Iko. It was an uncharacteristically off shooting night for the 37-year-old forward, who scored 18 points but was just 5-of-18 from the field, though he also contributed eight assists and six rebounds.
- Mavericks legend Nowitzki said in an interview with Sports Illustrated Germany that he’s not interested in becoming the team’s general manager, as Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal relays. The Mavericks currently have Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi operating as co-interim GMs after firing Nico Harrison. They’re expected to hire a permanent replacement for Harrison as head of basketball operations, though that’s reportedly “several months” away from happening.
- New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Rod Walker weighs the pros and cons of the Pelicans pursuing a Ja Morant trade. While he admits he’s “not completely sold on the idea,” Walker says the Pelicans should consider a deal with division rival Memphis if they can acquire the two-time All-Star point guard at a heavy discount. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype recently reported that the Pels have a level of interest in Morant, Walker notes.