Breaking: Jimmy Butler III to play in Game 4

He’s baaaaack!

There’s been a lot of optimism surrounding a potential Jimmy Butler III return for Monday night’s Game 4 showdown between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets. And now it seems that the optimism has turned to certainty. On Monday afternoon, NBA insider Chris Haynes reported that Butler will play tonight as the Warriors host the Rockets in a critical playoff game.

This comes after a report a few hours earlier from ESPN’s Shams Charania that both Butler and the Warriors “expected” the six-time All-Star to play. Still, I was anticipating that we wouldn’t know for sure until closer to tip-off. But then Haynes report came through.

Haynes is a legitimate and reputable reporter, though it is worth noting that, at the time of publishing this article, no Warriors beat reported had yet commented on Butler’s status for Game 4.

Butler’s presence in Game 4 is massive. The Warriors had a statement win on Saturday in Game 3, stamping a double-digit win without the Robin to their Batman. That not only gave the Dubs a 2-1 series lead, but gave them all the momentum. It showed they could beat the Rockets even without Butler, which in turn makes them heavy favorites when butler is able to suit up. Which, thankfully, appears to be tonight.

It will be interesting to see if Steve Kerr returns to his starting lineup for the first two games of the series, which featured Butler alongside Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, and Draymond Green. In Butler’s absence on Saturday, Steve Kerr not only inserted Jonathan Kuminga into the lineup to replace the injured star, but also replaced Moody with rookie center Quinten Post. It’s definitely safe to say that Kuminga will not be starting Game 4 — and might not be in the rotation at all — but I’m curious to see whether Post will remain in the starting five, or if Moody will take back the role.