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Draymond Green Reveals Jimmy Butler's Warriors Demand as Playoffs Loom

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Apr 16, 2025 11:56 AM ET

For most NBA players, especially stars, the start of the league's postseason means a grind of increased responsibilities, evolving defenses and more physical play, all of which results in statistics that get uglier as the weather warms.

For Jimmy Butler, the combination of responsibilities, defenses and physicality surely increases. But over the course of his career, his numbers tend to thrive in the playoffs. Butler has averaged 21.3 points as a postseason player, up considerably over the 18.3 points he averages in the regular season.

Though his stats for the play-in game on Tuesday night, a win over Memphis, won't count, he still managed 38 points on 12-for-20 shooting. up quite a bit from the 17.9 points he'd averaged in 30 games with the Warriors.

According to teammate Draymond Green, Butler has already been showing how different his approach is when he gets to mid-April.

“He’ll go a couple possessions without touching the ball, and he’s going crazy right now. Like, ‘I have to get the ball! I have to touch the ball!’ So it’s been interesting to watch the shift. As someone who has been in a million playoff series, it’s been interesting to watch this year, and I’m enjoying it.” Green said, via The Athletic.

Coach Steve Kerr agreed. The Grizzlies had trouble matching up with Butler's combination of size and know-how at the guard position, and Butler knew it.

"We talked about it at shootaround this morning. We anticipated that matchup. He just told me, "I don't care who guard me. Just give me space. Give me the ball. I'll make something happen," Kerr said.

"And that's beauty of Jimmy. You guys can see it. We have morphed into a different team. We've got the movement and the flow of Steph, but we have also become for half a game, an great iso team, and we've never been an iso team here. There's great advantage to that, to be able to get to the line, to be able to generate offense without having to fly around and set a million screens.

"Jimmy has completely changed everything for us since he's been here and tonight was a great example of that."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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