3-Team Trade to Land Jimmy Butler with Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors, less than two years removed from winning the NBA title, failed to make the playoffs this season.
With that result, Klay Thompson entering free agency, Stephen Curry having turned 36 years old and Draymond Green coming off a campaign riddled with suspensions, changes could be on the way.
And this week, The Athletic's Anthony Slater suggested one potential target.
"We discussed some of the Warriors' options on our offseason preview podcast," Slater wrote. "Two quick situations of note: If Brandon Ingram hits the trade market, I would not expect the Warriors to show interest. If the Heat shop Jimmy Butler, I would expect the Warriors to enter the conversation to at least some degree."
There's a pretty important caveat there. Earlier this offseason, Pat Riley told reporters that Miami isn't thinking about trading Butler, but it's not hard to see why it might. Butler turns 35 in September and has struggled to stay on the floor throughout his Heat tenure.
Those same issues could follow him to Golden State, but the Warriors may be desperate enough to take the risk.
We've cooked up another three-team trade that would send Butler to Golden State, brighten Miami's future and even help the Orlando Magic push for the second round in 2025.
The Deal
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As always, before we get into why each team could justify this deal, it helps to see the entire framework at a glance.
Warriors Receive: Jimmy Butler, Cole Anthony and Caleb Houstan
Warriors Lose: Chris Paul, Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, a 2025 first-round pick from Golden State, a 2027 first-round pick from Golden State and a 2029 first-round pick from Golden State
Heat Receive: Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, a 2025 first-round pick from Golden State, a 2027 first-round pick from Golden State, a 2029 first-round pick from Golden State and a 2026 second-round pick from Orlando (via Detroit and/or Milwaukee)
Heat Lose: Jimmy Butler and Orlando Robinson
Magic Receive: Chris Paul and Orlando Robinson
Magic Lose: Cole Anthony, Caleb Houstan and a 2026 second-round pick (via Detroit and/or Milwaukee)
Feel free to quibble over the picks (or number of picks), prospects and other smaller pieces involved here. The foundation is strong, and you'll see why with the explanations below.
Warriors Go All-In for Jimmy
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Warriors Receive: Jimmy Butler, Cole Anthony and Caleb Houstan
Warriors Lose: Chris Paul, Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, a 2025 first-round pick from Golden State, a 2027 first-round pick from Golden State and a 2029 first-round pick from Golden State
This may not reopen Golden State's title window for long, but it would open it pretty wide.
Durability is a concern, but Butler was arguably a top 5-10 player in 2022-23 and a borderline top-20 player this season. His cutting, playmaking and passing would be a nightmare to cover with Curry and Thompson flanking him. He and Green could form the basis of a potentially nightmarish defense.
If he were to play to the peak of his powers in 2024-25 (accounting for the natural decline that comes with age, of course), he'd be the second-best teammate Curry's ever had (behind Kevin Durant, of course).
Given the age and injuries, three firsts, a rotation-level wing in Andrew Wiggins and two promising young players may sound like a lot, but Curry may only have a couple years left at the "best player on a title team" level.
Since the Warriors wouldn't be taking back the exact same amount of salary that they're sending out, this trade would hard-cap them at the first apron (projected to be $178.7 million). They'd have to be mindful of that regarding Klay Thompson's free agency, but the addition of Butler might convince Thompson to re-sign for cheap.
Heat Reboot
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Heat Receive: Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, a 2025 first-round pick from Golden State, a 2027 first-round pick from Golden State, a 2029 first-round pick from Golden State and a 2026 second-round pick from Orlando (via Detroit and/or Milwaukee)
Heat Lose: Jimmy Butler and Orlando Robinson
The picks are obviously big here, but the more intriguing parts of this package may be 21-year-old Brandin Podziemski and 22-year-old Moses Moody.
If those two were added to a roster that already includes Sixth Man of the Year winner Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jović, Miami would suddenly have one of the league's most intriguing young cores.
Heck, even Bam Adebayo, who'd be recast as the team's alpha after this deal, is on the right side of his prime. He turns 27 in July.
Losing Butler would hurt in the short term, but he could be a free agent as early as 2025. And committing another big (or long-term) deal to him seems foolish, given how far Miami was from contention this season.
A half-step back is worth it for the opportunity to take a couple of steps forward in the future.
Magic Buy Paolo Some Time
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Magic Receive: Chris Paul and Orlando Robinson
Magic Lose: Cole Anthony, Caleb Houstan and a 2026 second-round pick (via Detroit and/or Milwaukee)
The NBA's new collective bargaining agreement brings some significant team-building restrictions for squads over the dreaded "second apron," and the Heat could be threatening that line in 2024-25.
They'll surely be looking at deals to shed salary this summer, and taking back two of Golden State's bigger contracts would make that difficult to do.
Cue the Magic, who have a real need at point guard and can absorb salary into their cap space this offseason.
The playmaking of both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner is cool. And a few years from now, they may be ready to co-lead a competent attack.
But Banchero's woefully inefficient scoring and Orlando having this season's 22nd-ranked offense suggests they still need some help. CP3 could manufacture better looks for the rising stars and everyone else on the team.
And since Paul's contract expires after the 2024-25 season, if the experiment doesn't go well, the Magic can simply march forward without him in 2025.
There's some risk here, since Cole Anthony is 24 and could be a valuable long-term piece, but it's worth it for the short-term upside that would accompany Paul.
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