The collective gasp from the Chase Center crowd on Monday night, when Jimmy Butler fell to the court holding his right knee, was almost palpable from my couch in Miami.
The Golden State Warriors went on to win the game. They deserve praise for stepping up and beating a decent Miami Heat team, considering the circumstances. But that is not the story. Really, the story isn’t even What will the Warriors do at the trade deadline now? Even though so many shows will lead with that question (including mine).
The story is what this means for Steph Curry or – more accurately – what it means for us who watch Steph Curry.
As much as this sucks for Butler*, the ramifications for Curry matter even more from a historical context.
All season, onlookers have wondered if the Warriors had enough left in the tank for one more run. One more chance at a fifth championship for Curry. The answer was then, and most certainly is now, No. The Warriors aren’t good enough, with or without Butler.
Yeah, they’re playing well now. They won six of their first seven games of an eight-game homestand and are seventh in net rating since Jan. 1. But they’re still eighth in the West and now, without Butler, will likely struggle to escape a play-in tournament that hasn’t been kind to them over the years.
I could get into the stats, the issues with depth, the fact that they are over-indexed in how much they rely on jump shooting. Or I could just ask you: Look at the roster, even with Butler, do you really think this team could win four playoff rounds? If you’re being honest, you never did.
But I never cared about the Warriors actually winning another championship and, I suspect, neither did you. What we really, truly wanted was the illusion that the Warriors could. Because at least that would seemingly give Curry something to play for.
In other words, we want to see Steph Curry play with stakes. We wanted a chance to see Steph, at 37, play in playoff basketball games that mattered. Maybe even play spoiler for one team, complete with a night-night celebration.
We didn’t need to see him win a championship. If anything, that might feel wrong. There are better, more deserving teams, even before the Butler injury.
But Steph doesn’t need another ring. The story of his legend has already been etched. He’s a minimum top-20 player of all time. A four-time champion who might as well have been dropped on our planet from a UFO to transform the game of basketball forever. A fifth ring wouldn’t change his influence or how we think of him. That’s the ultimate compliment to his Hall of Fame career.
At this point, watching Steph is about moments, not accomplishments.
Curry and, while we’re at it, LeBron James are stars among stars. When they leave the NBA, there will be a void. Maybe not in talent at that point, but in celebrity. Watching all-time greats in the twilight of their careers stubbornly fight off age and uncork something vintage is the most delicious kind of appetizer on the way to crowning the eventual champion.
No doubt that the most important parts of their careers are over. We already have the stories we’ll tell our kids. But we don’t know how much longer we’ll have Steph and LeBron in our lives quite like this. For basketball sickos like us, we just want a chance to appreciate them a little bit more until we can’t.
That’s what really sucks about the Butler injury. Because with Butler out, the chances of Curry giving us another moment take a hit.
If we want to talk trades, then this is how the Warriors should operate before the trade deadline. There isn’t a move that will turn the Warriors into contenders – especially not now. But that shouldn’t be the goal. The goal should be to restructure the roster in a way that makes the Warriors respectable.**
Is there a Jonathan Kuminga trade – heck, even a Butler trade – that raises the floor of this team enough to give them a chance at playing a competitive seven-game series?
Ditto for the Lakers.
Can either team thread the needle of making their team marginally better without mortgaging whatever future they have after Steph and LeBron hang ‘em up?
Neither team needs to make the trade that turns them into a contender, if only because that trade doesn’t exist. But there’s meaning – even honor – in giving Steph and LeBron the supporting cast they need to play in games with stakes at this stage in their careers.
If not for them, then for us.
*And it does. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported it’s a torn ACL and that he’ll be out for the season. According to the reliable Jeff Stotts, who runs the injury database InStreetClothes.com, Butler, 36, is the second-oldest player to tear his ACL in the past 20 years. The history of older players tearing their ACLs isn’t great.
**Right now, the Warriors can’t just lose a basketball game – they have to throw up all over themselves. Every loss ends with an ejection or headline-grabbing postgame comment. I would like the worst version of the Warriors to be slightly less embarrassing.
