LOS ANGELES – Warriors guard Jimmy Butler has been in the league for 15 seasons, played for five different teams and is set to play in his 901st career game when Golden State takes on the Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Monday evening.
He has shared a locker room with hundreds of teammates, from Hall of Famers to journeymen. Butler himself is no stranger to being the subject of discussion as someone who is stuck in an unideal situation.
Along those lines, Butler has made it clear he has taken a liking to the embattled Jonathan Kuminga, fancying himself a mentor to the former lottery pick who appears on his way out as his trade restriction lifts Jan. 15.
Kuminga has not played since Dec. 18 and has been a healthy scratch for 10 of the team’s last 12 games, but Butler remains steadfastly in his corner.
“That’s my brother. I could care less if he’s out of the rotation,” Butler said after Kuminga did not play in Saturday’s win over the Utah Jazz. “We hang out. That’s my friend, that’s my brother. That’s not going to change. Basketball is basketball. I love him like a brother now. I wish him the best. I still see him getting his work in, so his mind is right.”
Kuminga was a fixture in the starting lineup to begin the season, starting in the team’s first 12 games. However, a mixture of injuries and poor, turnover-filled play saw him relegated back to the bench, and then out of the rotation entirely despite averaging 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who drew the ire of Kuminga’s agent Aaron Turner during summertime contract negotiations that produced a two-year, $46 million deal, expected the 23-year-old to be a part of the rotation during Friday’s loss to Oklahoma City. Kuminga was instead a late scratch from the lineup with a back injury.
Come Saturday, the 6-foot-7 scoring forward appeared primed to receive one last chance at earning another shot, but he did not play a minute in the win over Utah.
With only four games remaining between now and Kuminga’s restriction being lifted, it becomes more and more likely that he has played his last game with the Warriors.
The Pelicans and Mavericks have been reported by various outlets as teams with interest in the former 2021 lottery pick.
Which is something that does not concern Butler.
Butler said, “‘I tell JK, ‘You be the pro of all pros. Come here and get your work done, you smile, have a good time because you’re still an NBA player. You’re still one of the best people in the world, and I’m not even talking about basketball. So you keep smiling, you keep doing what you’re doing.’”
Through it all, Kerr has remained steadfast in asserting he and Kuminga have a fine professional relationship, something Kuminga has also stated multiple times.
“We have a good relationship,” Kuminga said last month after not playing in a game in Chicago. “We get to talk and figure out things. We don’t have any problems. I don’t have any problems. Things just didn’t go my way today. I’m going to stay happy, stay locked in, stay focused into the next one.”
As both parties navigate what could be the player’s last days with the organization that drafted him, his veteran teammate has pledged to have his back until the very end.
“That (trade talk) don’t got nothing to do with me,” Butler said. “Because I’m still going to call and check on him, still going to visit him, still go to his house, eat his food, play with his kids. His future, that’s between him and whoever else. But the bond and the brotherhood we’ve built, no future will ever change if that’s my guy.”
