In today’s Dub Hub:
- Jimmy Butler says he is making “incredible progress” six months into his recovery from a torn ACL.
- According to ESPN, Al Horford will return to the Warriors next season.
- The Ringer’s Danny Chau discusses the Timberwolves blockbuster trade for LaMelo Ball.
Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler shared an encouraging update regarding the torn ACL he suffered last season. During Thursday’s event announcing IREN as the team’s new jersey patch sponsor, Butler fielded questions from reporters and, while he admitted the rehab process has been challenging, said he is making “incredible progress” in his recovery.
Butler is now a little over six months removed from the season-ending injury he suffered on Jan. 19 against his former team, the Miami Heat. The veteran forward said he believes he is about a month and a half away from running again and is encouraged by the progress he has made throughout his rehab, even revealing that he could still dunk a basketball if he jumped off his left leg.
Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from the session, though, was how positively Butler spoke about his time with the team thus far. He shared high praise for the Warriors’ organization, and while his name has occasionally surfaced in trade speculation due to his large, expiring contract, Butler’s comments did not sound like those of a player expecting to be moved anytime soon.
For now, Butler appears focused solely on his recovery and his future in Golden State. He’ll be 37 years old at the beginning of next season, but he made it clear that his priority is getting back on the court and helping the Warriors compete again alongside Stephen Curry.
For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Friday, June 26th:
Warriors News:
Jimmy Butler, making ‘incredible progress’ in rehab, reiterates love for Warriors | The Athletic
As speculation lingers that the final year of Butler’s contract, worth almost $57 million, could be packaged in a deal to acquire a different star to pair with Steph Curry, Butler continues to carry himself as a man who wants to play out the rest of his career in the Bay Area.
The messaging has been consistent from both Butler and the Warriors’ front office that Butler is part of the team’s future. Sitting next to Butler on Thursday, Lacob reiterated that he is confident both Butler and the team will come back strong next season. And Butler, who will be entering his 16th NBA season this fall, expressed optimism that the Warriors have enough talent to be a difficult out.
“If we’re healthy, we’re tough,” Butler said. “We’ve just got to be healthy. … As long as we’ve got Steph, we always have a chance.”
Al Horford says he’s returning to Warriors to play 20th season | ESPN
Horford’s return is an early checkpoint for a Warriors roster that appears as if it will remain mostly stable. General manager Mike Dunleavy is in active conversations with Kristaps Porzingis‘ representation to bring back the stretch center on a short-term contract, and the Warriors have been under the recent expectation that Draymond Green is likely to return on his $27.6 million player option.
“If the group is healthy, if we’re together, I feel like we’re going to compete,” Horford said. “I don’t want to think too much ahead, but once we’re able to get Jimmy and [Moses Moody] back … we have a very competitive group and we’re going to do the best that we can.”
Golden State Warriors Introduce Yaxel Lendeborg & Lajae Jones
NBA News:
The Wolves Just Bet the Ant Era on LaMelo Ball | The Ringer
In one fell swoop, the Wolves have raised their ceiling, lowered their floor, addressed a long-simmering issue at point guard, and formed the most entertaining backcourt in all of basketball. Minnesota has united two of the best players from the 2020 draft, whose play, in some ways, informs the zeitgeist of the present day. Edwards is the more classic figure, an all-world swingman who has increased his scoring average in each of his six seasons and is gilded by Jordan-esque athleticism and an almost supernatural development arc in both his ballhandling and pull-up shooting capability. LaMelo is the mold-breaking savant who sees basketball in shapes and colors that exist only in his head, who intuits the physics of the game differently because no one else had a dad galaxy-brained enough to teach him how to shoot from half court by the time he was 6 years old. Ball’s presence as a creator will allow Edwards to take full advantage of his one-of-one downhill explosiveness off the ball; Ant’s offensive gravity is unlike anything LaMelo has ever played with. It’ll be exhilarating. It’ll be chaos. It’ll be what has been missing from this Wolves team: something altogether new.
NBA releases the full schedule for the 2026 Las Vegas Summer League
In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:
Warriors sign record-setting sponsorship deal with data center company
An “AI cloud firm” called Iren has agreed to replace Rakuten as the jersey patch sponsor for the Golden State Warriors in a deal that’s reportedly worth $50M per season. For context, that’s enough to pay for 7 1/4 Al Horfords, 10.8 Gui Santoses, or over 58 Pat Spencers!
A post to end the week:
Follow @unstoppablebaby on X for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.
