Jimmy Butler and Stephen Curry.
Both of those men probably would have preferred to team up with Kevin Durant — and both their organizations tried to make that happen — but in the end they are together. And this could work. Jimmy Butler will be traded to the Golden State Warriors as the blockbusters keep on coming in what has been one of the wildest NBA trade deadlines ever.
Let’s look at the winners and losers from another mind-blowing trade around the NBA, starting with how the trade itself shakes out:
Golden State receives: Jimmy Butler
Miami receives: Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, P.J. Tucker, Warriors 2025 first-round pick (top-10 protected, or it becomes 2026 top 10 protected; it likely conveys this June)
Detroit receives: Lindy Waters III, Josh Richardson (there will be a draft pick attached to this as well)
Utah receives: Dennis Schroder, 2031 second-round pick
WINNER: Jimmy Butler
This entire Jimmy Butler soap opera was about money — and Butler got paid.
At the start of last offseason, Jimmy Butler was looking for a contract extension with the Heat, and not only did Pat Riley not give it to him, Riley said publicly: “That’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless you have somebody who’s going to be there and available every single night. That’s the truth.”
Shots fired. Based on Butler’s history in Minnesota and Philadelphia, Riley should have realized what was coming and traded Butler over the summer. He did not. The result was a predictable, messy soap opera once this season got rolling, as Butler eventually tried to force his way to Phoenix — in part because who doesn’t want to play with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, but also because Suns owner Mat Ishbia said he would pay Butler. The plan might have worked if it had not been for the Bradley Beal roadblock.
Now Butler is headed to the Bay Area and will opt out of his $52.4 million for next season to sign a two-year, $121 million extension with the Heat. Butler got the payday he wanted, and he can spend the next couple of seasons in the Bay Area listening to Tech Bros telling him where he should invest that money (while Butler just wants to open a West Coast outlet of BIGFACE coffee).
WINNER: Golden State Warriors
This is a win but a qualified one.
The Warriors have been searching for a star player to put next to Stephen Curry and give him at least a puncher’s chance at one more ring. With Kevin Durant refusing to reunite with Curry and Draymond Green in the Bay, landing Butler was the best option available. Butler is not the player he was 10 years ago, or even in 2023, but he can lift up the Warriors’ perimeter defense, knock down some 3s, and provide secondary shot creation — all things the Warriors desperately need more of.
Even better: Playoff Jimmy next to Playoff Curry is a tough out, as long as the Warriors can climb up into the playoffs.
LOSER: Phoenix Suns
Remember a few weeks back when the Suns traded the one first-round pick they had — a very valuable 2031 pick — to the Utah Jazz for three first-round picks, likely all in the 20s (certainly the 2025 pick, which is Cleveland’s)? When that happened, I — and every thinking adult in the United States — thought, “No way the Suns make that trade unless they have a locked-in plan, they must have the next steps lined up, and they needed to break that one pick-up into three to appease multiple trade partners.”
So… not so much.
Under owner Mat Ishbia, Phoenix has been trying to take big swings, but too often, those have come off as rash in the process. Stop. Take a deep breath. Talk to Durant and Booker about the future and what they want to see, then go into this summer with a plan. The team has options, pick one and stick with it.
WINNER: Miami Heat
Again, this is a qualified win, but a win. Miami set goals in this mess and reached them: Get out of the Jimmy Butler business and don’t take back any long-term salary that goes past the summer of 2026 (when the Heat want to target the free agent market). Check and Check.
Miami is 24-24, good enough to be tied for sixth in the East heading into Wednesday night. If the Heat can avoid the play-in and get a top-six finish, they can try to pull off some of that Heat playoff magic in the first round and advance to the second. That’s probably as far as it goes, but it’s a positive outcome while the franchise starts to plan for the future.
LOSERS: Other West play-in teams
Look how tight the West play-in chase is:
New-look Golden State is tied with Phoenix for the final play-in spot in the West, with the new-look Spurs just a couple of games back, while the new-look Mavericks and new-look Kings are just a couple of games ahead of all of them. That is a bunched-up group all fighting for their playoff lives.
And the Warriors’ chances just got a lot better. It is going to be a fun final stretch of the season in the West.
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