There was a warm and proper dose of Warriors nostalgia, but there was a lot more than that pulsating through Chase Center on Sunday. It was about the end of one thing, but not the end of everything.
Andre Iguodala Day felt a little bit like a revival moment for the Warriors’ dynasty — a milestone player’s jersey went up into the rafters, while the current players continued the surge that started with Jimmy Butler’s arrival, which has brought them back into playoff relevance. Both things — the immortalizing of Iguodala, the celebration of Butler — were in the air. Both things brought out the kind of roars that have been mostly absent from Chase this season. Both things are very important.
And you couldn’t help but feel some kind of fundamental convergence: Could Butler be having a similar effect for the 2025 Warriors that Iguodala had when Stephen Curry and Draymond Green were a decade younger and hungry to start winning championships?
“Obviously, they’re different players, different resumes, different styles,” Curry said after the game and ceremony honoring Iguodala. “But when they’re on the floor, usually good things happen. And you love players like that who understand the game, have a high IQ, lift the level of everybody around them. … When you have a superstar like Jimmy who’s done it year after year after year, you feel it right away.”
There’s a lot going on with the Warriors these days. They’re 5-1 with Butler after Sunday’s blowout victory over the injury-riddled Mavericks. They’ve nudged up within a half-game of eight-seeded Dallas and they’re just 1.5 games behind the sixth-seeded Clippers. This was the Warriors’ first home game since the Butler trade, and it was also Klay Thompson’s second trip back to Chase since his departure as a free agent. There was also, of course, the Iguodala postgame festivity.
But nothing is more satisfying for Curry, Draymond, Steve Kerr, and the rest than their recent transformation — from scattered, tired mediocrity into a tough-minded and fairly precise team that is plowing through its opponents. It’s not like the Warriors have faced a superteam in this run, but the league is full of non-superteams that looked better than the Warriors this season … until Butler showed up.
‘Sense of calm’
In their speeches in tribute to Iguodala, Kerr, and Curry both said that the pre-dynasty Warriors needed Iguodala’s maturity and calm to balance their bunch of whirling dervishes. Well, Curry and Draymond are a lot older now. The younger players weren’t quite stepping forward. The Warriors we watched through the first few months absolutely needed another grown-up this season. Once again.
“I think the fundamental base that Jimmy has reminds me so much of Andre,” Kerr said before the game. “When you put that fundamental base in a 6-8, athletic body, that’s a pretty powerful combination.
“That’s what Jimmy has really added to our team. The sense of calm that really frankly complements the chaos of Steph and Dray. That’s part of our strength as a team is the chaos that Steph and Dray can create. But if it’s not balanced, then it can be counterproductive. Jimmy is kind of balancing that out.”
The Warriors haven’t gotten a massive offensive performance from Butler yet — maybe he’s saving that for one of his famous playoff runs. But they’re getting a valuable metronome. Butler has scored between 17 and 25 points, taken at least six free throws, and had at least 4 assists in all six games with the Warriors. When the Warriors need to bail out of a bad possession, they can dump it over to Butler and he’ll figure something out.
Butler’s most important contributions have come during the Warriors’ weakest stretches — the minutes when Curry rests. On Sunday, the Warriors were +11 in the first half in the seven minutes that Curry sat, continuing a very significant trend since Butler’s arrival. Kerr has been pairing Butler with Draymond and Brandin Podziemski for most of these stints and they’ve been dominating teams with defense and heady offensive play. Passing and cutting. Rebounding and help defense. Getting to the foul line. Squeezing vulnerable teams to the breaking point.
The pressure has been switched around — instead of the Warriors fretting over every shot when Curry’s out and praying that they can maximize every second when he’s in, they’ve been able to relax and just play in the new rotation. Plus, as soon as Jonathan Kuming’s back from his ankle injury, they can move him into the minutes with Curry when Kerr has to rest Draymond, Butler, and Podziemski (which Curry has been basically carrying on his own).
“The game feels easier right now,” Kerr said. “Every play is not as crucial. When there’s consistency in the game, you can make a mistake and keep playing and not feel like, oh my god, we’ve got to flip things right now. I think the consistency of what we’re seeing defensively is setting the tone. …
“That group with Draymond, Jimmy, BP …. when Steph’s off the floor, their defensive rating’s just off the charts. We’re setting a great tone, and Jimmy, he makes sense when he’s out there. He gets to the line. He makes simple plays. He keeps the game under control for us. You can feel the difference, for sure.”
The Warriors’ culture remains
Obviously, the 2025 Warriors still have a long way to go. Butler has had a lot of bright moments at every previous stop over the years but also terrible breakups. And the Warriors will be counting more heavily on 30-something players deep into this season than every other potential contender.
But there were a ton of questions about the Warriors a decade ago, too. Iguodala helped them figure it out back then. Butler is a very different player and personality than Iguodala, but they’re figuring things out right now, too.
“It cements a moment in time where you’re reflecting on the last 12 years — when Andre joined our team, I felt like I was coming into my prime at that point and now I’m still on the floor competing,” Curry said. “There’s a sense of urgency just because you know you’re not going to be able to do it at this level forever. And we talked about that pre-trade, which is why Jimmy is here. We all love expectations. We love playing for something meaningful. …
“We’re in a moment where we still can win. And we’re talking about a guy who helped us do that for a decade.”
So maybe this is just a mirage. Or probably the Warriors are a lot better but still not good enough to get through two or three playoff rounds this postseason. But every word they said at the Iguodala ceremony felt like it was partly about the past and also partly about now. That this is a winning culture. That this wasn’t about one title, but about winning a bunch of them, as Iguodala noted. That as long as Curry is in uniform, anything is possible.
It might not be over. There’s a jersey in the rafters, but that doesn’t mean the whole thing is a museum piece.