Jimmy Butler couldn’t play against his former team on Thursday, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying every minute of it. Still rehabbing the torn ACL he suffered against Miami in January, Butler was especially lively on the Warriors’ sideline as Golden State beat the Heat 120-100. When teammate Georges Niang was asked about it after the game, he had a simple explanation.

“I wonder why,” Niang said.

In his postgame interview, Niang explained that he could understand the feeling, even if Butler had not openly expressed it.

“I mean, listen, I’ve been on, I can’t even count the number of teams, and I have, like, a spot that has, like, you know, wants to stick it to him, so I can understand why Jimmy feels the way that he does, or he hasn’t really voiced it. Jimmy is probably listening to country music in the weight room right now, screaming. But, yeah, no, I get it. I mean, it’s like a, I don’t want to say a relationship that ends, and do you want to see your ex do better than when she was with you? Not really. Yeah, I don’t think anybody else does.”

Beyond the jokes, Niang praised the role Butler has played despite his injury. He said Butler has welcomed teammates to his home in San Diego and has kept checking in on them while working his way back.

Butler’s energy made sense given how things ended in Miami. He spent six seasons with the Heat, leading them to two NBA Finals, before the relationship fell apart in a bitter standoff over his future. The Heat benched him in favor of Haywood Highsmith before finally trading him to Golden State in February 2025.

On Thursday, Mitchell led the Heat with 22 points and eight assists, but Miami couldn’t keep pace.

The rivalry took a turn this past January. Butler had scored 17 points against the Heat in a 135-112 win at Chase Center when he landed awkwardly after colliding with Davion Mitchell in the third quarter. He tore the ACL in his right knee, ending his season.

The game also marked the return of Klay Thompson to Chase Center for the first time as a member of the Miami Heat. Thompson spent 13 seasons with the Warriors, winning four championships, before leaving in 2024.

He arrived in good form. Just a night earlier, he scored a season-high 30 points and hit a game-winning corner three in overtime against the Los Angeles Clippers. However, it turned out to be a difficult night for him.

With Curry guarding him for long stretches, Thompson finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting.

The Warriors controlled the game after halftime, pulling away with a 38-point third quarter on the way to their sixth straight win. However, Butler wasn’t happy with just a win. He posted an AI-generated video on Instagram that recreated a scene from the 1999 film Blue Streak, with Stephen Curry taking a literal “W” from Thompson before putting him in handcuffs. Draymond Green and rookie Yaxel Lendeborg watch from behind a dumpster.

“Don’t just hand it to me, I gotta take it from you,” Curry’s character says in the clip. Butler captioned the post “9/82. W.”

Even sidelined, Butler found a way to make his presence felt against his old team, and Niang summed up why it might have meant a little more.

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