What does Jimmy Butler’s ACL injury mean for Jonathan Cummings?

Golden State The Warriors find themselves in an intriguing situation with Jonathan Cumminga next Jimmy Butler Season-ending injury III.

Butler tore his ACL in the third quarter of the Warriors’ game against the Heat on Monday night. Although Golden State blew out Miami for the win, the team received the unfortunate news that the veteran forward will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 NBA season.

This paves the way for Kuminga to possibly return to the fold. After being active in the rotation to start the campaign, he fell out of it as the entire team was disorganized with Butler’s presence. ESPN’s NBA Insider Shams Charania provided a better insight into the situation during the Jan. 20 SportsCenter segment.

“The Warriors are back on the rollercoaster, that’s their saga with Jonathan Cummings, and are they going to go all-in again with Cummings to see if he can play in Jimmy Butler’s absence? The focus will be squarely on him. He requested a trade last week, the first day he was eligible for a trade on Jan. 15. My sources told me that the relationship between him and Carew has improved,” Charania said at 1:30.

“Do you go back to Jonathan and come in now, given the state of the relationship, or here in the near future, do you try to find a deal on the market that can help the Warriors win and compete without Jimmy Butler? That’s a gaping hole for this team. So the two teams that have interest in Jonathan Cummings, Dallas and the Dallas Mavericks, if Dallas and the DeMar Mavericks, DeRozan and Sacra fit the bill, what could the Warriors do? need without Jimmy Butler, but one way or another, the Warriors will soon find out where they stand with Jonathan Cummings?

Sports center AM on Golden State Warriors‘ hard hit, season-ending torn ACL for Jimmy Butler: pic.tvitter.com/ZvVBCKsmuJ

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 20, 2026

What awaits the Warriors after Jimmy Butler’s injury?

The Warriors are itching to stay in the playoffs with their veteran star core of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. However, their hopes get tough with Jimmy Butler III out for the rest of the year.

Golden State is 25-19 on the season, holding the eighth spot in the Western Conference standings. They are three games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers and five games ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers, while trailing the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers by 1.5 games.

With four straight wins, the Warriors will hope to remain stable without Butler. They host the Toronto Raptors on January 20th at 10:00 PM ET.