New Warriors Rumors on Jimmy Butler's Future amid LeBron Contract, Anthony Davis Trade Buzz

Despite recent rumors of the Golden State Warriors making a run at LeBron James and Anthony Davis this offseason, the Dubs reportedly are not convinced it should trade Jimmy Butler in order to do so.

According to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, Butler has a strong relationship with many within the Warriors organization, including general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and head coach Steve Kerr, causing Golden State to "signal a reluctance" to use him as a trade chip while he continues to recover from a torn ACL suffered in January.

ESPN's Shams Charania (h/t ESPN's Anthony Slater) reported Monday that Draymond Green declining his $27.6 million player option for 2026-27 opened up the flexibility for the Warriors to explore signing James and trading for Davis.

Since Davis, who is under contract with the Washington Wizards, is set to make $58.4 million last season, the Warriors would almost certainly have to include Butler and his $56.8 million salary in a trade for him.

Despite that, Slater reported that the Warriors have "relayed to Butler behind the scenes that they prefer and plan to keep him" dating back to last season's trade deadline.

That is in line with a report from Stein and Fischer stating that the Warriors "pushed back strongly and insisted that Butler had been privately assured by team officials that he was going nowhere" despite his name coming up in trade rumors around the time of the deadline.

It is unclear when Butler will be back in action or how much time he could potentially miss to start the 2026-27 season, but there is no question that he has been a difference-maker during his time with the Warriors.

Golden State acquired Butler in a trade with the Miami Heat during the 2024-25 season, and he played a big role in lifting the Dubs into the playoffs.

Then, last season, Butler averaged 20.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game in 38 contests before his campaign was cut short.

It is fair to wonder if trading the 36-year-old Butler for Davis would be a net positive from an on-court perspective given that injuries limited Davis to 20 games last season, and he has appeared in 60 or more games in a season only once in the past six years.

The acquisition of Davis could potentially make Golden State a more attractive landing spot for James since he and AD won a championship together with the Los Angeles Lakers and share the same agent, but it would come with plenty of risk as well.

If the Warriors opt to keep Butler, they may not be able to make many changes to their roster, meaning they will be relying on a core of Butler, Stephen Curry, Kristaps Porziņģis, Brandin Podziemski and Green (if he re-signs) to lead them back to championship contention after missing the playoffs with a 37-45 record last season.