How Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green Manage ‘Dog Days’

SAN FRANCISCO – “Dog Days Are Among Us,” Jimmy Butler he stated, shaking his head, afterwards The Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 119-97.

Like a groundhog noticing his shadow in the dead of winter, Butler’s declaration is an indication that while the 22-19 Dubs are struggling on the field to stay afloat in the Western Conference, they’re also battling the mental malaise that comes with this particular stretch of the season.

“It’s always a blessing to play basketball in the best league in the world,” Butler explained. “I don’t forget it. But anywhere after Christmas until about January, until the All-Star break, it’s really repetitive.”

It’s no man’s land. That point in the season when fatigue sets in and the oasis of the All-Star break is out of reach. That is the reality Draymond Green is all too familiar.

“Early in your career, you don’t really know,” Green said. “You just know it’s a little harder at that time, and if you want to go to the gym a little less that day, the walls start closing in on you a little more.”

Green recounted how he explained to his teammates why he left the locker room and the arena so quickly after the loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

“I was a little beat up after that (Clippers) game, so it was a couple of days where I was dealing with different things,” Green said. “Even on days off, I was here for a few hours. Then after the game, I stormed off, because it felt like I was in a casino or a prison or something, like the walls were closing in on me. You could feel it.”

How the Warriors Fight Dog Days Slogans

With Golden State teetering on the edge of the playoff race in the eighth seed, just three games back of the coveted sixth seed, they don’t have the luxury of succumbing to dog-day lethargy. Down 22-19, the Warriors were right “mediocre” according to Butler.And while they’ve won nine of their last 12 games, they still have a lot of work to do to get where they want to be.

“We’ve got to win more games, lose less games,” Butler joked when asked what needs to change to break out of their mediocrity. “The worst place to be is to be mediocre because, like…yeah, it can go either way. But nobody wants to be just average.”

Warriors are very aware of where they are. They know they are not in the upper echelon of the West; they were vocal about how their mediocre record speaks for itself. But they also know that they are better than what they have shown. Their ceiling of opportunity rests on a 23-9 sprint to the finish line last season after the Butler trade. The so-called proof in the pudding they’ve been chasing all season.

But reaching that ceiling means winning the dog days – especially considering they have the advantage of working those days in an eight-game homestand.

For Steve Kerr, that means relying on their depth, which has been potent of late. Over the past 12 games, the Warriors’ 48.2 points off the bench average ranks first in the league, with De’Anthony Melton, Brandin Podziemski and Al Horford all making the cut.

But for Butler and Green, getting through the dog days is simple.

“You just have to keep your head down,” Butler said. “Go through it, compete, try to win as many games as you can.”

Jimmy Butler on managing the dog days of the season as the Warriors go through this stretch of the year:

“You just have to put your head down, get through it, compete, try to win as many games as you can. But the dog days are upon us.” pic.twitter.com/rr237VG5lS

— Kenzo Fukuda (@kenzofuku) January 14, 2026