Golden State Warriors Deal For Miami Heat Star In Sizzling High-Risk Pitch

The Golden State Warriors could pivot away from Lauri Markkanen and trade for a Miami Heat star, but it will likely cost them Jonathan Kuminga in the process.

The Golden State Warriors have rebounded well from the initial disappointment of saying goodbye to not one, but two Hall of Fame guards.

It was unfortunate for Chris Paul to be waived without a trade being worked out, and it was gut-wrenching for Klay Thompson to sign with the Dallas Mavericks. Rather than sit at home and lick their wounds, however, Mike Dunleavy and the Warriors front office moved quickly to work out deals with De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield.

The Warriors are now 14 players deep with viable rotation options, and their top 12 can rival any team in the league for functional and proven depth. The defense and supplementary scoring and playmaking they can deploy at every position is impressive.

The problem is that they still have one glaring weakness that they will need to address in order to be a team that matters in the Western Conference. They can have depth for days, but if they don’t find a second offensive creator to pair with Stephen Curry they aren’t going anywhere when the playoffs arrive.

Warriors desperately need a second star

The Warriors seem to understand this; they came within inches of the finish line for a Paul George deal before the LA Clippers balked and George hit the free agent market. They are the frontrunner for Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen but the two sides are reportedly still far apart on the proper valuation in a trade.

If the Warriors cannot trade for Markkanen, what should the next move be? Do they stand pat and hope Jonathan Kuminga takes a massive step forward? Do they go into the season waiting for another star to shake loose? Or could they offer a deal strong enough to entice a team stuck in a similar Play-In purgatory to trade one of its stars?

Let’s look at a potential trade between the Warriors and the Miami Heat to bring that needed star to Golden State.

Laying out a Jimmy Butler trade

The situation between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat does not appear to be copacetic.

Butler clearly wants to sign a maximum veteran extension with the team, and the Heat are reluctant to do so due to Butler’s age and injury history. The 13-year veteran and five-time All-NBA selection will turn 35 years old before the start of next season and missed the entire postseason with another injury.

The Heat are also not conducting business like a team trying to maximize their winning potential this season around Butler. They let Caleb Martin walk in free agency and re-signed Bam Adebayo to a new extension, and other than re-signing Haywood Highsmith and adding Alec Burks at the minimum they don’t look like a team that will be anywhere but the Play-In Tournament at season’s end.

If the Heat are lining things up to compete during the heart of Adebayo’s prime, and not whatever prime Butler has left, they could be open to a lucrative trade offer from a team that is desperate not to reset but to maximize their title window in the here and now. That team is the Warriors, and here is what a trade offer could look like to convince the Heat to move their star forward:

Detroit Pistons Receive: Kevon Looney, 2026 Second (ATL)

Golden State Warriors Receive: Jimmy Butler

Miami Heat Receive: Jonathan Kuminga, Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton II, 2026, 2028 First-Round Picks

The Detroit Pistons get involved because of the financial constraints of both the Warriors and the Heat. The Miami Heat are hanging around the second tax apron, and this deal is legal for a second apron team: Miami is sending out just a single player, and they are bringing in less salary than they send out. The Warriors likewise take back a few thousand dollars less by routing Kevon Looney to Detroit, allowing them to make this deal despite being up against the first tax apron.

The Pistons add a high-upside second-round pick in exchange for taking on the salary of Kevon Looney. They have a bevy of young centers in Jalen Duren, Paul Reed and Isaiah Stewart and could benefit from a veteran voice, in addition to potentially needing him to play if Stewart is moved in a trade as has been rumored.

Will this trade work for the Miami Heat? And what about the Warriors?

Would the Miami Heat make this trade?

The first step to working out a trade with the Miami Heat is convincing them to trade Jimmy Butler in the first place. Moving off of a franchise star, especially one who has carried this team to not one but two NBA Finals, is a tough pill to swallow, even for someone as calculated as Pat Riley.

What the Heat have to come to grips with is that they are not winning a title or even making the Eastern Conference Finals with their current roster. The core pieces are aging and injury-prone, and the Eastern Conference is getting younger and/or better this summer. The Heat need a different plan than “get into the playoffs and Playoff Jimmy will take over.” They may be coming to grips with that already.

This deal brings back Jonathan Kuminga as the centerpiece of the trade, a rising star who is 13 years younger than Butler. He will be due for a raise after next season, but even if he is making $30 million per season it will pale in comparison to the $52 million Butler is in line to make in 2025-26 on his player option.

Andrew Wiggins is a viable starter or bench option for the Heat and an excellent “buy-low” opportunity. If he has a bounce-back season for Miami they can move him in a deal at the trade deadline or next summer, potentially for a younger star to pair with Adebayo and Kuminga. The two first-round picks will certainly help with that. Gary Payton II completes the salary in the deal and gives Miami the point-of-attack defender they don’t have in their current rotation.

It’s not an easy decision for Miami, but the pathway to making this deal is there. What about Golden State – would they pull the trigger?

Should the Warriors make this trade?

If the Golden State Warriors pursue Jimmy Butler, they are essentially forcing a win-now decision between Butler and Jonathan Kuminga. It would be nearly impossible to field a viable modern offense with Butler, Kuminga and Draymond Green filling out the frontcourt. To trade for Jimmy Butler is to move on from Jonathan Kuminga.

Making him the centerpiece of a deal likely means being able to keep Brandin Podziemski out of it, a necessary component to ensure the Warriors aren’t merely fielding players in their 30s. This construction also retains Moses Moody, whose shooting and positional versatility will be important after losing both Andrew Wiggins and Kuminga.

Is the juice worth the squeeze, here? As previously mentioned, Butler is both old and injury-prone. He hasn’t played more than 65 games in the last 7 seasons, and as a result a player clearly in the Top 15 for that entire stretch made just two All-Star games and three All-NBA teams.

Yet when Butler is healthy he is a playoff deity, a player who is unperturbed by whatever defense is thrown at him, a guy whose shotmaking ascends to another level and who brings playmaking and defense at superstar levels. He won’t always be available, but when he is he’s a Top-5 playoff performer.

Making this trade would be a massive risk. The Warriors would be mortgaging the future for a mere chance at a deep playoff run. There’s just as much of a chance that Butler will miss enough time in the regular season that the Warriors are stuck trying to fight their way out of the Play-In Tournament, or that he misses the playoffs entirely.

There’s also a chance that he hits the postseason healthy, and the postseason magic that he and Draymond Green can muster when the lights are brightest combines to put a real contender around Stephen Curry. Either the Warriors or Butler’s Heat have been in the NBA Finals in eight of the last nine seasons, but they have never met. Could they make the Finals together?

That possibility is a tantalizing one; is it enough for the Warriors to give up Kuminga and two first-round picks? Probably not…but maybe. And it would make for one incredibly dramatic final chapter for Curry and this Warriors dynasty.