“I think he’s the perfect guy for JK to emulate.” While Jonathan Kuminga was recovering from his ankle injury in February, Steve Kerr publicly stated that he wanted the youngster to emulate Jimmy Butler’s game. “What makes Jimmy special is that he doesn’t try to be special. He just plays fundamental basketball.” Kerr said, urging JK to learn from him. But the puzzle never fit.

With Jimmy becoming a permanent starter on the team and the Warriors climbing the playoff ladder, Kuminga slowly faded out of Kerr’s rotation. His diminished role even led to speculations about rising tension between the two forwards. Until Butler’s injury this Wednesday changed everything. Well, he was forced to sit out tonight’s game with a pelvis and deep glute muscle strain. And just like that, Kuminga turned into one of the most important pieces for the Warriors, taking Butler’s spot in the starting lineup.

Moreover, the unusual circumstances may have even confirmed that there’s no real bad blood between Butler and Kuminga after all. During one of the timeouts, Jimmy was spotted offering some words of wisdom to the young forward on the bench. While it wasn’t clear exactly what they were discussing, Butler’s constant use of his left hand to demonstrate something strongly hinted that they were breaking down Kuminga’s earlier left-handed layup attempt.

It’s great to see that even amid injury, Butler is not hesitant to fulfil his role as a mentor, trying to help his team in any way possible. Also, the video showed Kuminga listening carefully, soaking in all the knowledge from the multi-time All-Star.

Well, this is how Butler expected their relationship to be when he first moved to the Bay, “I figure we’ll spend a lot of time together. I would like to think I’ll make his job a lot easier and he’ll also make my job easier.” Jimmy is now doing that by helping Kuminga correct his mistakes on the go and hopefully perform better in this series. And JK isn’t the only player learning from the two-time NBA finalist.

Jimmy Butler spotted giving mid-game dribbling lesson to Warriors star as concerning health update emerges

Soon after his interaction with Kuminga, Butler was spotted mentoring Buddy Hield. During another break, the injured forward sat next to Hield on the bench, and was seen explaining a dribbling move to him. Buddy even imitated Butler’s gesture and nodded in agreement. Whatever Jimmy said clearly worked, as the sharpshooter played his best game of the series, finishing with 17 points. He shot 5 of 11 from deep range.

More importantly, the Warriors won despite Jimmy being sidelined, taking a 2-1 series lead. The world could get more such courtside Butler mentorship moments as his injury might be worse than everyone initially thought. As per veteran insider Shams Charania, “He basically has no mobility and it’s not just about playing through pain or taking pain killing shots, he literally cannot move well enough to play basketball tonight for the Warriors.”

However, Jimmy looked pretty mobile and active on the sidelines tonight. Charania says that the Warriors are hopeful for his return on Monday for Game 4. Until that happens, Jimmy will likely continue bestowing his knowledge on his teammates, constantly helping them to perform better. After all, that’s what a great leader does. Agree?