BREAKING: Steve Kerr Opens Up on Controversial Jimmy Butler Lineup Decision

It has become plain in the Warriors’ last two games, both of which were critical to the team’s playoff hopes, that coach Steve Kerr is putting all his eggs in the Dubs’ Jimmy Butler basket. With good reason–Butler has come to the Warriors and helped the team to 49 wins, as Golden State has taken 23 of the 30 games in which he appeared since he arrived in a February trade.

It was Butler’s 38 points that led the way for the big play-in tournament win over the Grizzlies on Tuesday, setting up the Warriors for a No. 2 vs. No. 7 matchup against the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.

The Warriors gave up Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and a first-rounder (among other assets) for Butler, then gave him a $110 million contract for the next two years. They’re committed to him now, and moving forward.

But to play Butler as much as Kerr wants to play him, the coach has found that he must make a sacrifice elsewhere. And that sacrifice has been young forward Jonathan Kuminga, a talented potential star player many fans are worried is being wasted in Kerr’s new rotation.

Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III (10)

© David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Jimmy Butler & Jonathan Kuminga: ‘Not Great’

Kuminga, the No. 7 pick in the 2021 draft, has shown promise and averages 15.3 points this season. But he has been a DNP-CD for the past two games, the biggest games of the season for the Warriors.

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Kuminga is an excellent attacker of the basket, but he is not a shooter. Playing him with Butler (not a great shooter, either) means that the Warriors would have two non-shooters on the wing, and that makes things too easy for defenses.

Kerr explained his thinking on keeping Butler’s minutes high and slashing Kuminga’s in an appearance on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco.

“I have to read what we need. I hve to read who’s playing well together. And to be very frank, the Jimmy/JK combination has not been great and that’s the tricky part here,” Kerr said. “And I’m playing Jimmy 40 minutes a night because Jimmy is, he’s one of the very best players in the league. And there’s a reason we’re here and we’re in the seventh seed. …

“And the reason is Jimmy and so my job as a coach is to keep the team on a path that I think gives us the best chance to win. And for now, that’s why I’ve been leaning into the lineups that I have.”