The Golden State Warriors tried for years to thread the needle between championship aspirations in the present and relevancy in the future, but this summer could set the stage for a complete departure from that strategy.
While Klay Thompson’s looming free agency poses the biggest question of the offseason, the Warriors’ willingness to make a deal for a needle-moving star — and what they’d be willing to give up for such a player — isn’t far behind.
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report predicted on Saturday, June 1, that the Dubs are willing to pony up for a difference maker and that the move will come in the form of a trade with the Miami Heat for Jimmy Butler.
Buckley predicted a trade that sees Golden State flip Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody to Miami, along with first-rounders in 2026 and 2028, in return for the rights to the remaining two years on Butler’s contract, which pays him $49 million next season and contains a $52.4 million player option in 2025-26.
Before digging into the nuts and bolts of this blockbuster, let’s start with a caveat: The Warriors can’t currently put this offer on the table, as they’re perched above the second apron. Ducking beneath is doable, though, since Chris Paul’s $30 million salary is non-guaranteed, and Klay Thompson is trending toward becoming an unrestricted free agent.
If Golden State pictured Butler as its missing piece, though, those are all simple concessions to make. And the Warriors absolutely could feel that way, seeing as how Butler has done more with arguably less in South Beach than he’d have in Northern California. He wouldn’t make them any younger, obviously, but his tenacity, shot-creation, ability to get to the line and defensive versatility would all be helpful to have.
Warriors Would Usher in Win-Now Era Via Trade for Jimmy Butler
Podziemski and Moody are both former first-round picks who displayed promising career arcs with their play last season. While getting off of Wiggins’ contract would be a boon for Golden State, the team would unquestionably be mortgaging its future by including two future first-round selections alongside the player package that Buckley suggests.
The team would still retain Jonathan Kuminga, perhaps the player with the highest ceiling among its young core, as well as Trayce Jackson-Davis, who surpassed Looney during his rookie season and is a fitting long-term replacement at center.
Though Dubs fans shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking that Kuminga and Jackson-Davis can keep the franchise relevant once the Stephen Curry era falls into history. A deal like the one proposed for Butler is about maximizing that era in its final stages with another two or three good shots at a fifth NBA title before ushering in a multiyear rebuilding phase.
That appears now to be the Warriors’ clear priority, based on reporting from Anthony Slater of The Athletic last week.
“If the Heat shop Jimmy Butler, I would expect the Warriors to enter the conversation to at least some degree,” Slater wrote on May 30.
Jimmy Butler Poses Questions Involving Age, Injury to Both Heat, Warriors
All of this, of course, comes down to whether the Heat are willing to deal Butler. Team president Pat Riley recently indicated that was not something he would consider, but there is some clear writing on the wall if Miami isn’t interested in offering Butler the two-year, $113 million extension for which he is eligible this summer.
The reasons the Heat wouldn’t are Butler’s age and injury issues. He is 34 years old and has played in more than 60 regular season games just once across five seasons in South Florida. A knee injury he sustained during the NBA Play-In Tournament this spring also cost him the entirety of the Heat’s brief playoff run.
Those are the same issues that should concern a team like the Warriors, who would almost certainly extend Butler upon acquisition via a trade, thereby making a multiyear investment in him as a third star alongside Curry and Draymond Green — both of whom are also in their mid-30s.
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