SAN FRANCISCO – Even eight months removed from ACL reconstructive surgery, you had to expect that Golden State Warriors star forward Jimmy Butler would have something cooked up for Media Day. A few years ago, it was showing up to the Miami Heat podium in slick black emo hair over one eye and lip piercings. Last year, it was roasting teammate Buddy Hield waiting in the wings for him to finish up his availability.
This year, as Butler continues to work through his ACL rehabilitation process, he made his appearance iced out in a pair of hanging diamond earrings.
“My earrings? The ones they told me to take out? They're just earrings,” Butler smiled when a reporter asked him about the fashion choice. “Got some new earrings this summer, and I was, like, you know what, I'm just going to. I got some new piercings when I was out with my ACL. I had a bunch of new ear piercings; I don't really do tattoos, but I like piercings. I won't get my nose pierced or anything like that, but ears.”
What was the motivation?
“Boredom. That's what happens,” Butler said. “They're, like, you got to leave this piercing in for a year, and I'm, like, oh, what a coincidence, I'm out for a year. That's why I went and got some new piercings.”
In one small, quick Jimmy Butler-esque sequence, the room got a sense of where Butler is at in his rehab. As he said definitively at the start of his availability, he's feeling good. Butler's at a stage where he can participate in some basketball activity. He's able to dunk now, he said. But if the ear-piercing timeline provides any hints or indication as to when he can return, Butler is still a little ways off.
Jimmy Butler's return timeline for the Warriors
As of right now, the Warriors haven't solidified a return date for Butler or Moses Moody, but the plan is for them to return sometime by the second half of the season.
Article Continues Below“They're both in a good spot. They're progressing well. It's hard to determine exactly when they'll be back at this stage of the rehab because it really comes down to how you're doing each day,” general manager Mike Dunleavy said during his Media Day availability.
“I won't get into those phases right now, but it's tricky. Forget one, but having two guys that aren't going to be ready to start the season that are key rotation players, really good players, wings that are such a valuable position in the league. We're in a bind in that regard, but I think we've done the best we could at improving the roster to a point where we have some depth, and we could hold down the fort until those guys come back.”
It's a difficult process for all parties involved, but especially for Butler, who talked at length about the mental hurdles that come with rehabbing an injury of that caliber. But the 37-year-old is taking a patient approach to the process. Even though he can't play basketball at its fullest yet, he's dove deep into other games: spades, mahjong, hopscotch, and double dutch, Butler said. And more than anything, Butler and the Warriors do not want to rush him back and create a setback.
“Without a doubt, but that's just me being stubborn and wanting to come back and hoop,” Butler said when asked if it is difficult to be sidelined. “The best thing about this organization is they tell you, like, we're not doing that. You got to do it the right way and not skip steps, because they want me to come back and be at full strength and be the player that I was, that I am, and that I will be.”
Butler flashed another grin as shiny as his earrings.
“But whenever I'm ready to go, I promise you I'm coming back, and it's going to be — I think it's going to be, like, real eye-popping for everybody how I'm still going to be nice. Probably nicer, honestly.”