SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors may have seen their title chances disappear Monday night.
Star Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL in the Warriors’ 135-112 victory over the Heat, according to ESPN.com.
Butler, 36, was helped off the court with a right knee injury at the 7:41 mark of the third quarter against his former team.
Butler was hurt moments after catching a pass in the paint when he went down hard and awkwardly following a collision with the Heat’s Davion Mitchell — who was called for a foul.
After the play, Butler was asking for two free throws, a positive sign to coach Steve Kerr that his spirits were good and “hopefully that’s a good sign.”
“We’re all really concerned but we’ll know more after the MRI,” Kerr said. “Everybody is subdued because of the injury, waiting to hear the news.”
Butler’s knee buckled upon his landing and he grimaced and grabbed at his knee while down for a couple of minutes.
He needed teammates Gary Payton II and Buddy Hield to escort him off the court and to the locker room after the fall on the Warriors’ offensive end.
When he finally got up with assistance, he was unable to put any pressure on his knee.
“It’s something you hadn’t seen before, usually you expect him get up and even if he can’t finish the game just get off the sideline. I just told him to take his time and figure out what he needed in that moment,” Stephen Curry said.
“It’s kind of funny he was still cracking jokes over there while he was on the ground in true Jimmy fashion. He’s always going to have a good time no matter the situation is. I do love that perspective and that part of his personality, even in the worst of moment he’s still having a good time. He was trying to get to the free-throw line, he said it was two shots.”
In just under 21 minutes, Butler had 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, four assists and three rebounds.
He is Golden State’s second-leading scorer behind Curry, having averaged 20.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists entering the week.
The Warriors currently sit at 25-19 and the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
A disgruntled Butler was acquired last season from the Heat to add another veteran star to Golden State’s aging roster.
The Warriors did make it to the Western Conference semifinals with Butler’s help, but Curry got hurt in Game 1 against the Timberwolves and Golden State was dismissed in five games.
This will only add to questions about whether the Warriors should consider a drastic move at the trade deadline.
Jonathan Kuminga demanded a trade last week as the young forward is frustrated with his role on the team.
“He’s an alpha. He’s one of those guys in the league who everybody else in the gym knows that’s the guy,” Kerr said.
“He has that presence but he also has that game where we can play through him possession after possession. So, assuming we’ll be without him for a little bit, we’re going to miss him, we’ve got a lot of players who can play and we’re showing our depth right now. We’ll just wait for the news to figure out what’s next.”
— With AP