Jimmy Butler III is out for the season after tearing his ACL last night. The Golden State Warriors entered the season hoping to go on another title in part because of how well Butler fit into their team.
With him out, that casts a dark cloud over their hopes and aspirations. On the one hand, this is what happens when older teams’ foundations are on players in their mid-to-late 30s. Older players like Butler are simply more susceptible to injury. However, an ex-NBA player and Warriors alum believes Butler’s injury is Steve Kerr’s fault.
Warriors Alum Takes a Shot at Jimmy Butler III
During his appearance on Gil’s Arena, Warriors alum and champion Nick Young gave his take on the Butler injury, going as far as blaming his old coach for what happened.
“Against your old team too,” Young said in a clip aggregated by the X account Heat Culture. “…Somebody not living right. Somebody not living right man. Go pray. That’s just karma… I don’t want nobody to get hurt but that don’t rarely happen against your old team. Steve Kerr treating people bad over there. That’s tough man… I do wish him a speedy recovery but he ain’t gonna be speedy no more. That’s the last time he gonna be speedy.”
Nick Young believes Jimmy Butler ACL injury against his former team may be karma related ????
“Against your old team too. Somebody not living right. Somebody not living right man. Go pray. That’s just karma. I don’t want nobody to get hurt but that don’t rarely happen against your… pic.twitter.com/lpTY9GHwpb
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) January 20, 2026
Interesting to see Young directly single out Kerr since he and the Warriors helped Young get a ring just before he hung it up, but at the same time, Golden State had a bit of a hostile locker room during Young’s lone season there (2017-18).
Kerr and the Warriors have been getting some bad press lately for how they’ve handled the Jonathan Kuminga situation. Despite paying him to stay with the team, Kerr has kept him in the doghouse for the past month (though that’s likely to change with Butler’s injury).
Young may also have been talking about Butler’s karma, as he had a very public falling-out with the Miami Heat before they traded him to the Warriors. That’s not the first time Butler has made it very clear how badly he wants out, but the steps he will take to have his previous team grant his trade wish.
Suffering the most serious injury of his career against Miami of all teams does make Young’s point valid, though it sounds like he has an axe to grind with Kerr. For what, no one knows, but maybe Young will elaborate on that over time.