Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler exited a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder early on Tuesday night due to an apparent knee injury. It didn’t stop his team from nearly mounting an incredible comeback.
Butler left the game briefly midway through he second quarter after tripping slightly and losing his shoe on the baseline. As the play went the other way, Butler slowly got his shoe back on and started limping off the floor. He went back to the locker room during the next timeout, but returned to the game a few minutes later.
Butler came up limping again in the final stretch of the first half, however, and went back to the locker room early. He stayed there for good, and did not start in the third quarter. The Warriors then ruled him out with a sore left knee before the start of the fourth quarter.
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Further specifics are not yet known.
Butler had six points and three rebounds in 15 minutes on Tuesday night. He shot 2-of-7 from the field. The 36-year-old entered the contest averaging 20.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game this season while shooting nearly 53% from the field.
Without him, the Warriors fell into a hole that hit a maximum of 22 points in the third quarter, but a furious comeback erased that lead over the course of the second half. The Warriors briefly led in the fourth quarter, but one last OKC run ended any hope of handing them their second loss of the season. Final score: 124-112.
The team did it all without both Curry and Stephen Curry, who remains out with a quad injury. Four different players — Buddy Hield, Gary Payton II, Pat Spencer and Seth Curry — posted double digits off the bench.
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The loss drops the Warriors’ record to 11-11. They have now lost five of their past seven games and will hold their breath on Butler’s condition. The Thunder, meanwhile, improved their record to 21-1 despite the absence of key players in Isaiah Hartenstein, Lu Dort and Alex Caruso.
They remain on pace to take something even bigger from the Warriors.
