Jimmy Butler has been more than willing to play a supporting role to Steph Curry since coming over from the Miami Heat . However, Butler might have gotten a little too comfortable being the Robin in "The Bay", so that he became too passive in the Golden State Warriors ' four games before Thursday's game against the Phoenix Suns .
According to Gilbert Arenas , if Butler continues to struggle on offense, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr might as well remove him from the Dubs' starting lineup and bring him off the bench, because the Warriors are struggling with his limited offensive output.
"Jimmy, if you're going to play like that, I will bring you off the bench," said Arenas on his podcast. "You're not a bench guy, but how you're playing this game, on this team, this is not Miami. I don't have a Herro and a Bam. You have to be one of those."
Entering Thursday, Butler had taken no more than 11 shots per game in his last four appearances. During that span, he has averaged just 14.0 points per game. He has gone to the free throw line only 6.5 times per contest, both numbers below his usual averages. More significantly, the Warriors went 1-3 during that stretch, and they went under the .500 mark for the first time this season at 13-14.
Worse, when the Dubs lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves last Friday, Curry had to score 39 to keep them in the game. At the same time, Butler just took 11 shots, which was fewer than Quinten Post 's 15 and Pat Spencer 's 13.
Two nights later, against the Portland Trail Blazers , Steph lit up the scoreboard with 48, and Jimmy took it easy again with another 11-shot performance. Without scoring help for Steph, the Warriors lost again.
"When you take a look at his movements on what made him great, he understands when you need big buckets, when you need those 8-0 runs, cuz they haven't been paying attention to me, I can f–k some people up," added Arenas. "Now you're in a role where you have Curry, you are the No.2, but you are playing the game as if the other three players on the team are like that themselves."
"You have to be Klay. You have to be KD. You have to be Jimmy in the playoffs. You can't be Draymond Green because if you got two Draymonds out there, who you passing to? Post? What Post gon' do?" Gil added.
Related: Stephen Curry calls out the Warriors' biggest problem this season
After their loss to the Blazers, Curry sounded off on his team, but only by simply saying their biggest problem is that they are not winning . Steph also didn't sound too concerned with Jimmy's passive play and even vouched for his teammate by justifying his recent offensive funk.
"There's going to be times where he's going to score. There's going to be nights he's a facilitator for certain stretches, he's one or the other," Curry explained . "But he's such a unique player because he can still dominate the game even if it doesn't show on the stat sheet. He's going to find ways to get everyone involved. We just have to be organized around him."
As if on cue, Butler matched his season-high with 31 points on Thursday night against the Suns. With Curry struggling with his shot and scoring just 15 points, the 6'6" forward looked more aggressive and took 17 shots, his second-most in a game this season.
However, the Dubs still lost 98-99, and they have now dropped to No. 9 in the West. Seeing Jimmy play that way, though, was a good sign for the Dubs. Hopefully, he keeps it up and doesn't revert to the passive Robin.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 19, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
