After many months of trying, the Golden State Warriors finally landed a star to pair with Steph Curry. It cost them Andrew Wiggins, a few other less significant pieces (Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson, Lindy Waters III), their first-round pick this year (unless it lands in the top 10), and $112 million in additional guaranteed money, but it was a move they had to make in order to give Curry a couple more honest kicks at the can as he approaches his 37th birthday.
The big question with Jimmy Butler, of course, is whether his diminished production this season was the result of him quiet quitting (and then very loud quitting) on the Miami Heat, or the result of his waning abilities at age 35. Golden State obviously decided it was worth ponying up and giving him a two-year extension to find out. Butler's long track record of turning up the dial when he wants to, which tends to be when the stakes are highest, suggests it's a smart bet.
Even at his age, Butler remains a rugged and wily defender who roves in the gaps, plunders passing lanes, and generally creates chaos. He should be a great fit in Golden State's aggressive, adaptable scheme, which is designed to do just that. He and Draymond Green should be able to wreak all kinds of havoc at that end of the floor with their combined physicality, intuition, and unpredictability.
On the offensive end, Butler will be a much-needed pressure release who can take some of the creation load off Curry's shoulders as a secondary ball-handler. He can play the role of screener or handler in what should be a killer pick-and-roll combo with Curry. He remains a potent iso scorer capable of conjuring buckets out of thin air when the moment demands it, and Golden State has sorely lacked that ingredient over the last couple years. He'll help keep the offense afloat when Curry's on the bench. To this point in the season, the Warriors have scored just 103.6 points per 100 possessions in those situations, 12.3 fewer than with Curry on the floor.
Butler is also an elite off-ball player despite his complete lack of 3-point gravity. That's because of his ability and willingness to cut, screen, slip, roll, seal, and connect the dots as a passer on the move. Those attributes meld beautifully with the Warriors' read-and-react motion offense. Even without a 3-point shot (he's taken just 36 in 25 games this year), Butler's put up a 64% true-shooting mark thanks to his interior scoring punch and ability to generate free throws. And he takes immaculate care of the basketball, which will be a nice bonus for a team that's long had a penchant for turning it over.
In Miami, Butler gained plenty of experience working within an offense that flows out of delay and split action, and the Warriors should lean into his strengths as a post operator who can be equally effective as a scorer or playmaker with his back to the basket. His limitations as an outside shooter might make it tough to play him, Green, and a center at the same time, but in the highest-leverage moments, the Warriors will probably roll with Green at center anyway. Butler is an ideal wing to fill out those smaller lineups.
Where Jonathan Kuminga fits into the equation now is another variable to ponder. The Warriors have constantly tinkered with his role, trying to figure out the best way to utilize the talented but still raw 22-year-old. The addition of Butler figures to complicate that role even further. Kuminga, Green, and Wiggins were dynamite in their shared minutes the last two seasons, but sustaining that with Butler in Wiggins' place (putting three non-spacers on the court at once) will be a challenge.
That leaves head coach Steve Kerr with some tricky decisions to make when it comes to structuring his closing lineups. And it'll leave Golden State's front office with a tricky valuation process when it comes time to negotiate Kuminga's next contract as he hits restricted free agency this summer.
But those are the kinds of problems you look to solve after you get a player like Butler in the door. Put simply, the Warriors needed an injection of talent that could meaningfully raise their ceiling, and a locked-in Butler provides exactly that. Wiggins is a good, low-maintenance role player having a strong bounce-back season at both ends of the court; Butler was the best player on a Finals team less than two years ago. Unless the player we saw during that run (or even last season) is gone for good, he'll be the best player Curry's played with since Kevin Durant skipped town. And he'll give Golden State a genuine chance to compete before the Curry window closes completely.
While the literal and figurative costs of the deal aren't insignificant, the fact that the Warriors worked out a short-term extension that puts Butler on the same contract timeline as Curry and Green (all expiring after 2026-27), only surrendered one protected first-round pick, and kept all their important prospects (Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, Trayce Jackson-Davis), mitigates a lot of the risk. It also leaves open the possibility of other moves, either at this deadline or in the offseason.
Massive contracts for Butler and Curry, along with Green's $26-million-a-year deal and a potentially big new number for Kuminga, will induce some luxury-tax headaches for a team that might still not be good enough to contend. But again, this is basically a two-season runway after which Golden State can reset completely.
The Warriors are 25-25, but they're also just three games out of a top-six seed in the West. For a team that wasn't going anywhere anyway and has an imperative to squeeze every last drop out of its legendary franchise icon's twilight, the upside of this trade vastly outweighs the downside.
