Introduced to the media here with his new team Thursday, Butler said he is thrilled to have a fresh start and to be playing basketball again after a tumultuous ending with the Miami Heat.
“All of that is behind me, moving forward,” Butler said when asked about the speculation that surrounded him over the past month. “I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be wanted again.”
Asked if regaining his joy was just a matter of putting on a new jersey — he will wear No. 10 after Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar — and to play basketball again, Butler couldn’t contain his enthusiasm.
“I got a feeling I’m [going to] be back, in a big way, too,” he said. “So I’m smiling. I’ve been going at it, I’ve been training, I’ve been doing everything I’m supposed to be doing. I know that I have my joy back now. I’m in a different situation, different group of guys.”
Butler said he hopes to make his Golden State debut Saturday against the Bulls in Chicago.
“He is a big-time pressure player, postseason player,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game. “So that would fit well in our locker room.”
“We’ve got other guys who have been through the battles, been through the war. So I think when you put a group of guys like that together, there’s going to be a belief, there’s going to be a confidence that comes with that. And so I’m excited to see what that looks like.”
