The Golden State Warriors have made a final determination on the availability of All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler, ahead of their NBA Cup clash against the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
Per Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area, Butler and young shooting guard Moses Moody have been activated to suit up. Both Butler and Moody had been questionable to play through low back strain. Former five-time All-Star center/power forward Al Horford, now a reserve, has been sidelined with a sore left foot.
With 11-time All-NBA superstar point guard Stephen Curry shelved due to an illness, Johnson tweets that Warriors head coach Steve Kerr will be starting Brandin Podziemski and Moody in the backcourt, Butler at small forward, Jonathan Kuminga at power forward, and 6-foot-6, 10-time All-Defensive Teamer Draymond Green at center.
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Per the league’s latest injury report, free agent signing De’Anthony Melton remains out recovering from a left knee ACL surgery. Green has a right rib contusion but is playing through it, perhaps in a bid to make his 11th All-Defensive Team this spring — players need to suit up for at least 65 healthy regular season contests (with some exceptions) to qualify for the honor.
Denver will be missing two-way signings Tamar Bates and Curtis Jones, who’ll both be putting in reps with the club’s G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold. DaRon Holmes II is on assignment to the Gold, while big man Zeke Nnaji is set to play through his sprained right ankle.
Butler, 36, agreed to a two-year, $111 million maximum contract extension with Golden State upon being traded there at the February 2025 deadline from the Miami Heat. He’s now under contract through the 2026-27 season.
Through eight games with the Warriors so far, the 6-foot-7 Marquette product has been averaging 19.0 points on .479/.474/.898 shooting splits, 5.4 boards, 4.5 dimes, and 1.1 steals a night.
Following a robust start to the season, Golden State has fallen down to earth a bit of late, and now sports a fairly pedestrian 5-4 overall record. In fairness, the Warriors have been saddled with a pretty punitive early schedule, and as things settle down it’s possible the team’s results will improve. Against a relatively healthy 5-2 Denver Nuggets club, Golden State will take all the healthy bodies it can get.
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