Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III. Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Is this another sign that the Warriors will win the NBA title?

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Mar 7, 2025 11:19 AM ET

In case you missed it, Yardbarker on Feb. 26 listed five telltale signs that the Warriors will hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy in June.

Another interesting development furthers that theory, and it involves Jimmy Butler. When the Warriors erased a 22-point deficit to beat the Nets, 121-119, on Thursday, Butler became the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1970-71 to average 15/5/5 with 10+ wins after their first 11 games with a new team.

Robertson was traded to the Bucks ahead of the 1970-71 season, forming a Big 2 alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or a Big 3 if you count Bob Dandridge. The Bucks would win 66 regular-season games before steamrolling their competition in the playoffs, including a 4-0 sweep of the Bullets in the Finals, en route to the NBA championship.

Jimmy Butler's first 11 games with the @warriors:

17.1 PPG
5.0 RPG
5.4 APG
10-1 record

The only other player in NBA history to average 15/5/5 with 10+ wins over his first 11 games with a team was Oscar Robertson with the Bucks in 1970-71 en route to the title. pic.twitter.com/kRzDKBSneC
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) March 7, 2025

Much like Butler in Miami, Robertson had made several deep playoff runs with the Cincinnati Royals but couldn't get over the hump until he landed in Milwaukee next to Abdul-Jabbar.

Could Butler enjoy the same fate after being paired with another all-time great player such as Stephen Curry?

One may deduce these stats as cherry-picked and refuse to read much into them. But it can't be denied that the Warriors have been a spirited bunch since Butler landed in San Francisco. Since the trade-deadline acquisition, the Warriors rank third in net rating (12.5), fourth in defense, fifth in offense and second in winning percentage.

With Thursday's win, the Warriors (35-28) moved within three games of the Rockets (38-25) for the fifth seed in the West.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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