Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler will not return to Tuesday night’s action against the Phoenix Suns due to lower back soreness, which saw him added as questionable to the injury report earlier today.
Butler was ruled active ahead of game time and played 14 minutes before exiting. He finished with two points, four rebounds and two assists.
This is the first night of a back-to-back for Golden State, so the exit is likely precautionary from Steve Kerr’s staff – who spoke at length about the team’s rigorous schedule on the horizon:
“I mentioned it the other night, seven games in 12 days, five cities. Not an easy schedule. And I think it showed the last two games. We looked a half-step slow in a lot of ways,” Kerr said on Golden State’s schedule.
“We’re constantly collaborating with our players on this stuff. I’m collaborating with our performance team. They have all the data showing how fatigued these guys are, how fast they run, their recovery time, all that stuff.
“So what that means is, we have to navigate not only back-to-backs, but three games in four nights. The rules the NBA gives us in terms of which games guys can rest, which games they can’t. That’s something we are really having to dive into now that the season’s going and rolling. It’s not easy, but we’ll do it collaboratively.”
Golden State currently leads Phoenix by 20+ points as of publish.
Ahead of tonight, Butler averaged 21.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists on nearly 50% shooting from the field.
When it comes to the Suns, they entered tonight hoping to extend their current winning streak to three – though Phoenix head coach Jordan Ott knew with or without Butler, tonight would be a tall task:
“It’s paramount. Our overall communication will test us,” Ott said pre-game.
“These guys have been together for so long, so deep into their system. We’re gonna have to defend multiple actions deep into the clock. It starts in transition. When they get going, they’re really good in transition, not only off of misses after defensive rebounds, but also after our makes. This one will be a good test to see exactly where we’re at.”
After tonight, Phoenix will return home to face the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night while Golden State hits the road for a Wednesday night battle against the Sacramento Kings.
