Why the Warriors decided to trade for Jimmy Butler: ‘He win? I win? That’s the fit’

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NBA trade deadline. 

SALT LAKE CITY — At some point in the last several days, Stephen Curry had a conversation with Kevin Durant that convinced him a reunion was extremely unlikely, no matter how much the Golden State Warriors ownership group and front office collectively “underestimated” Durant’s coldness toward a return, as one team source put it.

Eventually the decision-makers accepted the inevitable and pivoted their NBA trade deadline plans to Jimmy Butler. Bradley Beal’s no-trade clause locked the Phoenix Suns out of the Butler sweepstakes. That piece of unchanging information allowed general manager Mike Dunleavy, owner Joe Lacob and assistant general manager Kirk Lacob a level of patience, even while Butler postured about his lack of Warriors’ interest in hopes of a miracle in Phoenix, where a longer max extension awaited.

Butler and the Warriors can be viewed as backup plans for each other, a marriage of circumstance between two sides who desired — and probably still do desire — others. But they’re here now. The Warriors used their leverage as the Miami Heat’s best leftover suitor to flip Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schröder, Kyle Anderson and a 2025 top-10 protected first-rounder for Butler, in what they believe is a modest outgoing package for the Curry co-star they so desperately craved.

It was agreed upon in the early evening Wednesday, generating a tricky scene on the ground in Salt Lake City. Wiggins, warming up at half-speed with a spooked look, was stopped on his way back to the locker room for a conversation he’d been dreading. It was the first and toughest of four conversations coach Steve Kerr had with the four departing players. Kerr then gathered the entire team, kicked reporters out and had what Kevon Looney said was “up there” with the most emotional meetings he’s experienced in his decade with the Warriors.

“Wiggs is one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached,” Kerr said. “Just a beautiful soul. Just a wonderful human being. We don’t hang that banner in (2022) without him. Everything he brings every day, the laughter, the smile, the joy. I’m gonna miss him.”

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But everything in this ruthless business moves swiftly. How quick? Curry said he’d already started thinking about the Butler fit while simultaneously playing Wednesday night’s game against the Jazz. At halftime, Curry grabbed his phone and sent Butler a welcome text. Butler quickly responded.

“It was a very pleasant message,” Curry said.

Curry and Kerr were kept aware but mostly outside of trade discussions the past week. They’ve had trepidations about the Butler idea. This was a decision orchestrated and executed by Dunleavy (a former Butler teammate in Chicago), Lacob and the front office. Nothing would’ve been done without at least a tepid green light from Curry — so you can bet he gave it — but Curry has never wanted to wield personnel power because, in part, how it would compromise his standing as a rock-solid teammate and leader.

“You knew all the talks that were going on in the last week,” Curry said. “But until the front office pulls the trigger, you don’t necessarily believe anything is going to happen.”

The Warriors are exchanging Wiggins for Butler at the top of their rotation. That turns a durable 3-and-D wing into a higher-usage, higher-upside scorer and tone-setter to take pressure off Curry. Schröder and Anderson were more ancillary players in a crowded rotation. The 2025 top-10 protected first-rounder was viewed as expendable, team sources said, considering the Warriors had scouted the draft and didn’t love the prospect pool in the late lottery and beyond.

So the riskiest part of this trade might’ve been the contractual aspect that bumped it across the finish line. The Warriors agreed to give Butler a two-year, $112 million extension. He declined his player option in the process. So it’s essentially an extra one-year, $58 million commitment to Butler for his age-37 season, lining his contract length up with Curry’s and Draymond Green’s.

That clouds Golden State’s future books, especially considering the looming restricted free agency for Jonathan Kuminga and the front office’s maintained desire, team sources said, to bring Kuminga back at what is expected to be a pricey figure.

But Butler clearly needed an extra level of security for this partnership to get off on the right foot. So the Warriors delivered it.

“Him signing an extension is big,” Curry said. “Knowing he’s committed for this next little run … I know there was a lot of drama down there (in Miami). Who really knows what the story is? We expect to have a motivated, committed Jimmy.

“I can put myself in his shoes. He’s been away from the game for a minute. He’s been frustrated for whatever reason. When you get into a situation that’s a fresh start, it establishes expectations that we’re all used to that we need to win. We all thrive off that energy. Doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges.”

The Warriors started to explore the feasibility of the Durant dream late last week and, in the process, Green’s name was floated. It’s plausible he would’ve been sent to Phoenix if some of the theoretical structures materialized. That possibility surfaced in one of The Athletic’s intel reports. Green said he never went to the front office for reassurance he’d stick around.

“No,” he told The Athletic late Wednesday night. “I always talk to Mike. But, no, what’s going to happen is going to happen. Ninety-five percent of the things you worry about never come true. If (I did get traded), then it just is what it is. My worries ain’t stopping it. So I wasn’t worried at all. I’ve been in a place of uncertainty overall. But what’s going to be is going to be. To sit and worry about it, this life is hard enough to worry about what you can’t control.”

With the Butler move and extension, lining up the contracts of all three of their signature players, the Warriors instead sent the opposite signal to Green. This is Dunleavy and Lacob committing to Curry, Green and Butler riding it out.

“One thousand percent,” Green said. “That’s the goal. That’s what they’ve done. We appreciate it.”

There will be immediate questions about how well Green and Butler will coexist. Green brushed it off.

“He win? I win? That’s the fit. Winners win,” Green said. “He’s a winner. Perennial All-Star. Tough as nails. Just f—ing get the job done however it needs to be done.”

Looney, one of the wisest and most respected voices in the Warriors’ locker room, expressed a belief that Butler would fit in well, delivering an ironic twist. Looney has had several conversations with Wiggins about Butler. Wiggins was his teammate in Minnesota and “swears by him,” Looney said.

“I’m super confident,” Looney said. “We’ve had a lot of different personalities, a lot of different guys. It usually works out. From the guys I’ve talked to, the guys who’ve played with him, Wiggs says he’s a great guy. From a player’s perspective, I heard he’s great. All the other stuff, the contract negotiations, you know how that goes. Team spins a narrative, media spins a narrative, player spins a narrative. I don’t want to get into all that. I know he’s a winner. If he cares about winning, he can fit in easy here.”

As for the fit next to Green, Looney has seen his controversial teammate get along with DeMarcus Cousins, Chris Paul, David West, Andre Iguodala and plenty of other teammates with large personalities.

“Guys like that who are dogs, alpha males, they respect other people like that,” Looney said. “They kind of stay out of each other’s way. Draymond is a great connector. He’s a great leader. He makes things happen on the floor and off the court.”

There’s also the on-court questions, which will begin to be answered in the coming days. The Butler trade is expected to be finalized on Thursday, and he is likely to join the team in Chicago before their Saturday night game against the Bulls. There was already talk in the postgame locker room about what type of lineups will work best, including a small-ball closing five that’ll have Curry, Butler, Kuminga and Green on the floor with either Buddy Hield, Moses Moody or Brandin Podziemski.

“It’ll look different than what we are used to,” Curry said. “He can play, I’m sure, a little bit of motion. But he’s a shot creator, a finisher, somebody you have to take into account where he is on the floor. He plays at his own speed. He can get to the foul line, takes advantage of matchups. He’s a competitor at the highest of high levels. I’m excited to see what it looks like. I’m going to watch a lot of Miami film to see some of the sets they like to run for him and what we can transition to our playbook.”

It could work. It could be the final coffin in a fading dynasty. But it does generate an extra bump of interest for a team that currently sits at 25-25 after 50 games.

“Biggest thing is just it creates expectations, which I love,” Curry said. “I want to be in that kind of environment, whether you get it done or not, that is meaningful basketball that we all love and thrive in. I think we’re all going to be up for the challenge.”

(Photo of Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)