The Zach Lowe Show
The Knicks May Have a KAT Problem. Plus, Butler Injury Aftermath and Trade Deadline Preview.
20 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Coming up on the Zach Lowe Show, a lot happened in the NBA even in the last 24 hours. Jimmy Butler, Tours ACL. Really bad. Jimmy Butler was having an awesome year. Underrated awesome year. Underrated awesome player.
Chapter 2: How does Jimmy Butler's injury affect the Warriors' strategy?
As always, the Warriors, 12-4 in their last 16 games. Beginning to find their stride in the West. Probably never we're going to contend, but we're going to be a frisky team. And now they have big decisions to make. What does this mean for Jonathan Kaminga? What does it mean for their trade deadline outlook? And then Kurt Goldsberry and I zoom around the entire NBA trade landscape. Giannis.
What are the Lakers going to do?
Chapter 3: Who are the biggest names to watch at the trade deadline?
Who's going to duck the tax? What about the Pelicans? Are they really close for business? We talk about tons of teams, the Cavs, the Magic, and on and on and on, and the Knicks. I was at MSG last night watching the Knicks get booed off the floor, losing to the Mavericks by a million points. What is going on with the Knicks? 2-9 in their last 11 games have fallen to third in the East.
Their defense is bleeding points. Their offense is in a big slump. It looks discombobulated. Their starting five is just eh. What is going on with the Knicks? Can they save their season? Are they going to do something crazy at the trade deadline?
Chapter 4: Why are big players in small markets important in the NBA?
Kirk Goldsberry is here to debate all of that with me, discuss all that with me, and we react to the All-Star starting announcements. Kirk picks his All-Star reserves. I revise my all-star reserve picks, and LeBron. What is Lee going to do about LeBron? Is he going to be there?
Chapter 5: What is causing the Knicks' ongoing struggles?
That's all coming up after this on the Zach Lowe Show. Welcome to the Zach Lowe Show. It's Tuesday morning instead of Monday morning. We waited an extra day because of all the games on Monday, Martin Luther King Day. And boy, is there a lot to talk about, Kurt Goldsberry.
I was at Madison Square Garden last night listening to the Knicks and specifically Carl Anthony Towns get booed off the floor as the zombie mavericks without Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, but with Cooper Flagg and without some other people. took a 30-point lead over the would-be Eastern Conference favorites, New York Knicks.
Chapter 6: How is Karl-Anthony Towns linked to the Knicks' problems?
The New York Knicks, whose owner voluntarily went on a radio show with one of his buddies on WFAN two weeks ago and said, we got to make the finals and we should make the finals. Whoopsie, James Dolan, two and nine in your last 11 games. We'll get to the Knickerbockers. A lot of trade stuff.
And we have to start in all of that with the very sad news that overnight I woke up to the news that Jimmy Butler tore his ACL in the Warriors win over the Heat. The Warriors are 12-4 in their last 16 games. The schedule, which was just fraught with travel and game density for the first 35 games. The Warriors, I ran into them up in Toronto around the holidays.
They were very optimistic that they were going to turn a corner. even after they blew a horrible game in Toronto that I was at. And they appear to have turned something of a corner. And now they run into this. Obviously their season is effectively over.
Chapter 7: Why is Detroit considered a fascinating team at the trade deadline?
I don't think they were, I don't think they had any chance to actually make any real noise in the Western Conference anyway, but any chance of being like a frisky first round over in the second round, it's 2-2. This is a really nice way to round out Steph Curry's late career in Golden State. That's done.
It's got trade implications for Jonathan Kaminga, for Michael Porter Jr., for anyone else the Warriors may or may not be interested in. And to be clear, I don't think they were ever that interested in Michael Porter Jr. I don't know that they feel his...
Chapter 8: What does Boston's position as potential buyers mean for the trade deadline?
feel for the game and decision-making fits the Steve Kerr beautiful game style of play, but he's a good player and you can't quibble about good players. Just a devastating injury. Kirk, I thought Butler was having like a really underrated year. A couple of our colleagues privately scoffed at me for even including Jimmy Butler in my honorable mentions.
I'm sorry we left you off the all-star team list. And I'm like, All this dude does is put up 26-6 every season. He's shooting 52% from the floor, 38% on threes. Advanced stats love him every season. The Warriors are almost plus 9 per 100 possessions when he plays without Curry. He's a great defensive player.
He's just one of those guys who wins basketball games and does all the cliche things that like don't show up in the stat sheet, although they show up in his advance numbers, the cuts, the offensive rebounds, the tip outs, all that stuff. Just a devastating injury to sort of one of the more unusual star players in the NBA. I don't know. Where do you want to start with this?
I mean, it's sad. It's sad. I'd start with this is a 36-year-old player who's made the NBA a lot better for many years. And it's just sad that this character has now been removed from the season. That's where I'd start, Zach. It's always sad. It can always happen. But not only does Jimmy just have this devastating late career injury. knee injury, which is just an awful situation.
But yeah, it effectively ends whatever chance Golden State had to be a frisky contender in the Western Conference as well. So I think those are the two big headlines out of this. One, it's just sad that this old player has this catastrophic knee injury at this stage of his career. And then downstream effects, this affects
Stephen Curry's maybe last best chance to compete with the Golden State Warriors, which is very sad. I mean, the NBA playoffs for 10 years now have been better in large part because of Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler having these iconic performances in April, May, and June. And it's just really sad now that Jimmy's injury has taken those, it looks like, taken those away from us this year.
Well, I mean, and the real sad thing is, this was all lined up to be a two year thing, right? His Jimmy's deal and Steph's deal and Draymond's deal with a, a player option, albeit all expire after next season. And like, it's we're 40 games into this season. You know, Jimmy's 37 years old. Um, Who knows when he's going to come back next season? Like this doesn't affect this season.
This affects next season, too. I mean, certainly the calendar and typical recovery time suggests he will come back next season in the middle of the season at some point. What condition is he going to be in? This doesn't wipe out this season only for the Warriors. It could it could potentially wipe out next season. It does raise some interesting questions for the Warriors.
All the attention right away was on Kaminga. Like, are they going to play Kaminga? Are they going to keep Kaminga? What does this mean for Kaminga? I saw Shams went on SportsCenter today and said the relationship between Kaminga and Steve Kerr is fractured beyond repair. Yeah, I would probably agree with that based on what I've heard.
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