Jimmy Butler, not very subtly, let it be known that he wanted out of Miami.
The Golden State Warriors wanted to get one more superstar shot creator next to Stephen Curry and give him a chance to make a run at ring No. 5
Those stars all aligned on Wednesday in another blockbuster, mind-bending NBA trade.
Jimmy Butler reportedly has been traded from Miami to Golden State in a massive five-team (or maybe four-team, depending on the final configuration), six-or-seven-player trade with a lot of moving parts. Shams Charania of ESPN was first with the news.
BREAKING: The Miami Heat are finalizing a deal to send Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors for Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson and a protected first-round pick, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/82mWHKCnVM
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 6, 2025
This is a massive trade that keeps evolving, but here’s how it shakes out as of right now:
• Jimmy Butler is traded to the Golden State Warriors.
• All this Jimmy Butler drama started because he wanted to get paid and Miami’s Pat Riley didn’t want to write that check. Golden State will. Butler will opt out of his player option of $52.4 million for next season to sign a two-year, $121 million extension with Golden State that keeps him with the team through 2027.
• Miami gets Andrew Wiggins, P.J. Tucker, and a Golden State first-round pick (likely 2025, but it is top-10 protected in 2025 and 2026).
• Utah will take on veteran point guard Dennis Schroder and get a second-round pick for their trouble.
Jazz will receive the more favorable 2031 second-rounder from the Miami Heat or Indiana Pacers in the Dennis Schroder/PJ Tucker swap, according to a league source.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 6, 2025
• The Detroit Pistons helped facilitate the trade by taking on Lindy Waters and Josh Richardson. (There must also be a draft pick for them in this package.)
• While Toronto had been reported as part of the trade taking on Kyle Anderson, that seems to have fallen through. Anderson will stay with the Miami Heat, for now, but they will try to flip him in another trade before the deadline — if they do not the Heat will have to pay the luxury tax, and it limits who they can pick up on the buyout market.
This trade is a win for Jimmy Butler — he gets paid. He didn’t get to the Suns like he had pushed for, but he had pushed for Phoenix largely because owner Mat Ishbia had said he would pay Butler. Now the Warriors are doing that, so you can be sure Butler is happy. Butler is averaging 17 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists a night, shooting 36.1% from 3. When he’s been healthy and cared, Butler has played well this season. The challenge is, at age 35, can he sustain it.
It’s also a win for the Warriors as they fight to remain relevant in a West filled with young, up-and-coming teams (if the postseason started today the Warriors wouldn’t even make the play-in). It may not be enough to win ring No. 5 of this era — in fact, it probably will not be — but Golden State now has three dangerous veterans in Curry, Green and Butler that no team will want to see in the first round.
Finally, this trade also is a win for Miami, which gets out of the Jimmy Butler business and can focus on rebuilding now around Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo.
