Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors had a strong start to the 2025-26 NBA season on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Butler led the team with 31 points and secured the first win of the year with a 119-109 dominance over the Lakers. Golden State took advantage of possessions where the Lakers tried to slow down the All-Star forward by putting Gabe Vincent as the defender.
Given the size difference, Butler did not waste the opportunity to dominate the 6-foot-3 guard in the post. This helped the six-time All-Star generate 16 points from the free throw line. Warriors star Steph Curry helped with 23 points on 33.3% shooting from beyond the arc.
With how he played against the Lakers, big man Draymond Green had high praise for his teammate. According to Green, he believes that Butler is back to his All-Star form ahead of the new year.
“It’s been amazing having him here and continue to build,” Green said about Jimmy Butler. “He’ll be an all-star again this year, so it was good to see him back being Jimmy Butler.”
“He’s been a great leader since the day he showed up,” the forward continued. “We all heard the talk about him last year, and that’s not the guy who showed up to San Francisco. The guy who showed up to San Francisco is the guy we saw tonight — a great leader, encouraging teammates, telling guys what he sees and making corrections, settling our team down and getting us good shots.”
Draymond Green on Jimmy Butler: “Jimmy will be an All-Star again this year.” pic.twitter.com/mx1hOkxebf
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) October 22, 2025
Green also revealed that Butler has displayed great leadership on the floor. The four-time NBA champion said that the former No. 30 pick stays with his teammates… “he’s going to be right there.”
Warriors coach believes Jimmy Butler provides “stability”
The Warriors have functioned excellently under Steph Curry over the past few seasons. This time, Curry has a co-star who doesn’t play similarly to him. Curry has been used to sharing the floor with Klay Thompson, a star who’s benefited from being a catch-and-shoot player.
Jimmy Butler isn’t like Thompson, but he has shown how well he can play alongside Curry. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr sees the defensive forward as someone who’s a perfect complement to the longtime star for Golden State.
“He never turns the ball over. So, he just controls the game out there for us. We need that, we’ve always been at our best when we can provide the support for Draymond and Steph’s chaos with some stability. That’s what Andre [Iguodala] did, that’s what Shaun Livingston did,” Kerr said.
This is the first campaign for the Warriors where they’ll have Butler for an entire year. With a great start to the year, the team could be a threat in the Western Conference.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
