Warriors' Jimmy Butler makes warm up appearance amid injury rehab originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
It’s been a while since Jimmy Butler has taken to the court for the Golden State Warriors, given that his first full season in the Bay Area was cut short due to a torn ACL in January. That injury brought an end to a 38-game slate for Butler, a period of time in which he’d average 20 points, along with 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
Since going out for the season, the Warriors star has had to sit back and watch his teammates fight tooth and nail for each result, going into Sunday night’s season finale against the Los Angeles Clippers with a record of 37-44. This is enough to see Golden State make the NBA’s Play-In tournament as they’re the tenth seed in the Western Conference.
Apart from the obvious contributions from Stephen Curry, the Warriors have gotten other players to pick up some slack in Butler’s absence, as the likes of De’Anthony Melton and Brandon Poziemski are averaging double-digit scoring numbers, with the latter also posting a win share of 5.1, 0.7 down from where the aforementioned Curry sits.
Despite being stuck on the bench as he makes his way back to action from his season-ending injury, this doesn’t mean that Butler hasn’t been supporting his teammates from the bench. This was the case on Sunday night, as the six-time All-Star was spotted on the Warriors’ bench at the Intuit Dome.
Jimmy Butler is with the Warriors in Los Angeles. Just popped out during Steph Curry’s warmup. Moving gingerly but he’s off crutches. pic.twitter.com/LfhGGOj4VL
Butler wasn’t just seen on the bench alongside his teammates, but was also seen putting up a shot in the warm-ups leading up to tip-off. This doesn’t do much to move the needle in his progress back onto the court, but it shows that he’s making progress.
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