A public trade demand, multiple suspensions, and a failed Kevin Durant deal later, and suddenly Jimmy Butler is the newest member of the Golden State Warriors.
The full trade details are as follows:
Warriors receive:
- Jimmy Butler (via Miami)
Heat receive:
- Andrew Wiggins (via Golden State)
- Kyle Anderson (via Golden State)
- P.J. Tucker (via Utah)
- 2025 first-round pick (via Golden State)
- If the pick, top 10 protected, is not conveyed in 2025, the Heat will receive Golden State’s 2026 first-round selection (with the same protections attached).
- If the pick hasn’t conveyed by the 2026 draft, the Heat will receive Golden State’s unprotected 2027 first round pick.
Pistons receive:
- Lindy Waters (via Golden State)
- Josh Richardson (via Miami)
Jazz receive:
- Dennis Schroder (via Golden State)
Initial reports indicated that Kyle Anderson would be re-routed to Toronto via Miami, making it a 5 team deal, but that piece of business has reportedly stalled out according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.
All in all, Golden State has a new big three in Butler, Stephen Curry, and Draymond Green, ostensibly extending their window to compete for the next several seasons. As part of the deal, Butler will decline his $52M player option in 2025-26, and will instead sign a 2 year, $111M contract with the Warriors.
Currently sitting 11th in the Western Conference at 25-25, Golden State was open about wanting to swing a needle moving trade ahead of the NBA’s 3pm trade deadline on February 6th. The Warriors initially became involved in the Butler trade talks as a 3rd party team, which would have seen Butler head to Phoenix, and Kevin Durant land in Golden State for a 2nd tour of duty.
However, Durant reportedly wasn’t keen on heading back to his former club, which led to Miami and Golden State reworking a deal to send their disgruntled star to the Bay Area.
“We know who Jimmy is. Being in two Finals, he’s a winner,” Curry told reporters after news of the deal broke. “I understand there’s a lot of drama down there, and who really knows what the story is. We expect to have a motivated, committed Jimmy that’s ready to impact our team for the better.”
Wiggins took warmups with the Warriors before heading back to the locker room, where the team held a closed door meeting to inform him and the team of the recently completed deal. It was a night of mixed emotions for the team as they would go on to fall to the Utah Jazz 131-128. Head coach Steve Kerr summed up the experience with reporters during his media availability.
“It’s tough,” Kerr said. “You develop these relationships with guys. They give you everything and commit to the team. They got families. Wigs just had a baby boy last week. Wigs is one of my favourite players I’ve ever coached. Just a beautiful soul, a wonderful human being. We don’t hang that banner in ’22 without him, everything he brings, every single day, the laughter, the smile. I am going to miss him, the other guys too.”
The deal is significant for Golden State for this season and beyond. Not only do they acquire a proven playoff performer who can ease the scoring burden on Curry in crunch time, but they also did well to hold on to their younger prospects as well.
Both Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski remain with the club despite there being interest from several teams to include them in the deal. While the team did give up a 1st round pick, it’s a far cry from some of the deals we’ve seen in recent years for star players such as Kevin Durant or James Harden, where multiple first rounders, second rounders and pick swaps were included.
That ultimately falls in line with the vision both Kerr and Curry professed to reporters in how they thought the team should approach the trade deadline. Make a big swing, but don’t blow up the future in order to do so.
For all intents and purposes, it would appear as though GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. did just that in the late night hours Thursday.
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.