Life without Jimmy Butler begins with experiments

SAN FRANCISCO – Things change quickly in the NBA, but rarely do they change at the sheer supersonic speed it has for Golden State Warriors in the last 24 hours. Golden State fell to the Toronto Raptors 145-127 in a game that seemed secondary to the collapse Jimmy Butler’s season-ending tear.

It was a night for the Warriors to mourn their losses; a night for them to assess where to go in the short term and, ultimately, the long term. A night of tinkering and experimenting after they just felt like they had found stability. And in that grieving, evaluating and experimenting came a return Jonathan Cumminga after 16 consecutive games of DNP-CD.

Kuminga finished with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting to lead the second unit in a comeback effort that failed after Steve Kerr pulled the starter after the Warriors trailed by 30. Along with Buddy Hield’s 25 points on 6-of-6 shooting from deep, Kuminga looked sharp in his return, providing a potential option to beat Butler.

“I thought JK (Kuminga) was really good,” Kerr said after the game. “That’s a great sign. With Jimmy out, obviously, there’s a hole at that spot on our roster. So JK is going to be involved here again. And really pleased with the way he stayed fit and stayed fit and got his chance and played really well.”

Golden State’s steps on the court are progressing

With Kuminga’s return, an uncertain period of righting the ship begins as the franchise evaluates its next steps. What those next steps will be remains up in the air, but for now, the Warriors are focusing on finding answers on the court.

“The first order of business is trying to figure it out,” Draymond Green said in his short press after the game. “To think that one person is going to fix it, or that we’re going to fix it in one day — it’s not realistic. It would kind of diminish the value of what Jimmy brings.”

So how are they? Warriors will fix the product in the field?

To dig for silver in tonight’s junk pile, Kerr liked the play from the second unit. But Kerr claimed that anything and everything was on the table.

“Anything is possible right now,” Kerr said. When you have an injury to not only one of your best players, but one of the best players in the league, it just changes. Everything. The puzzle changes completely. And so we will certainly experiment with some different lineups and combinations. One type affects the other four.”

Before the game, Kerr pointed to the depth on their roster to make up for Butler’s loss, particularly De’Anthony Melton and Al Horford. But, as Kerr said, they have a new puzzle to solve, and while a trade could be presented, the solution will have to come from home for now.

Golden State will close out a successful 6-2 eight-game stretch without Butler. They have two weeks until the trade deadline to figure out their next steps.