The Warriors are carrying Jimmy Butler's expiring $56.8 million toward a return reported for January or February
Jimmy Butler will open the season in rehab. Team sources told ESPN that Butler, recovering from the torn ACL he suffered against Miami last season, is expected back in the January-to-February range, behind Moses Moody, who could return in the December-to-January range. Neither has advanced beyond individual court work, and the range rests on team sources rather than an official timeline.
Butler said the next checkpoint is landing from a game speed-type jump without issue or concern. "We know," he told ESPN. "Y'all just find out whenever y'all find out."
The reason the Golden State Warriors are waiting for him sits in last season's split. ESPN reported that they went 11-4 in the 15 games before the injury, with Butler averaging 21 points, five rebounds and five assists, and 12-26 afterward. "But Jimmy goes down, and instantly you just know deep down your championship aspirations are gone," Steve Kerr told ESPN.
That split is not Butler's alone. According to ESPN, Steph Curry was later sidelined for two months with a persistent knee issue and Moody went down in late March, so the slide measures a thinner roster as much as one absence. Fifteen games is also a short sample to carry a season's expectations.
Last season's money tells the same story through the calendar. Per WAGE, Butler's $54.1M salary ranked 8th of the 435 rated players in 2025-26, and his production ranked 62nd.
That production rank is a season total, and he built it in 38 of his team's 82 games. About $29.0M of the salary went to games he did not play, so the rank reflects how much he played as much as how well.
Even with those missed games, he accounted for 16% of the Warriors' production last season, per WAGE.
His WAGE Score fell to 38 last season from 68 in 2024-25. It reads what the salary bought across the whole season, missed games included, not how well he played when he was on the floor.
The expiring deal pays him $56.8M in 2026-27, and the reported return range puts the opening months of that salary against games he will not play. If that range holds, whatever the contract buys this season comes after January or February: the same shape as last season, with the missing games at the front of the calendar instead of the back.
The Warriors have chosen to carry that cost rather than move it. ESPN reported that the market views an injured Butler as a negative value on the expiring number, that he has not been offered in other potential trades, and that all other conversations built around Butler plus picks were shut down, according to team sources. General manager Mike Dunleavy, per ESPN, sees him as an essential part of the next few years.
The expiry also connects this season to the next summer. ESPN reported that the Warriors are loaded with expiring contracts and could clear up to nearly $60 million in cap space, and that Butler, who has repeatedly said he wants to retire with the Warriors, hopes to be retained.
I'd argue the $56.8M is now paying for the back part of a season and for what that stretch shows: how Butler plays after his return is the most recent evidence the Warriors will have when next summer arrives. The other side is the one the timeline already carries, since neither he nor Moody is past individual court work and every checkpoint between now and then is still ahead.