Jimmy Butler-Warriors trade rumors: How Golden State can acquire the Heat star to help Stephen Curry win another title

The Warriors have reportedly been looking for a second star for some time. They negotiated a trade for Lauri Markkanen and Paul George this summer before those talks fell through. They even did some research on LeBron James during the trade deadline last year.

Nothing has happened yet, but that hasn’t stopped Golden State from trying. ESPN’s Shams Charania told his colleague Malika Andrews last week about the team’s continued interest in making a big move. Charania doubled down on those comments in a column on Tuesday, suggesting that a move from Butler to the Warriors could be a real possibility.

“The Heat are open to offers,” Charania said, and Butler “is open to destinations such as two of the Texas teams (Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks) and the Golden State Warriors.”

This isn’t the first time the Warriors have investigated Butler. According to former Warriors beat reporter Nick Friedell, they discussed trading him over the summer.

The smoke is getting thicker and there is a deal that can overcome the difficult financial constraints that every team faces.

Here’s what it would take to bring Butler to the Bay Area.

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Jimmy Butler is moving to the Warriors

The trade

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Warriors receive:

• Jimmy Butler
• Josh Richardson
• Alec Burkes
• Thomas Bryant

Receive heat:

• Andrew Wiggins
• De’Anthony Melton
• Gary Payton II
• Jonathan Kuminga
• 2025 first-round pick
• 2027 first-round pick

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Why the Warriors do it

Apart from Curry, no other player on the Warriors averaged more than 18 points per game in the last two seasons. They are an easy team to guard at the end of games as they only have one real opportunity to score. Butler, considered one of the league’s most accomplished players, would immediately diversify this offense.

After a quiet start to the season, Butler is looking like himself again. He is averaging 19.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists for the Heat. He’s still able to get to his favorite spots on the floor and get to the finish line a ton. He would definitely check the box of high-level playmaking and scoring that the Warriors are striving for. And he’s still a good defender, especially at the end of games.

Butler is 35 years old and has a $52.4 million player option next season that he likely won’t exercise, according to Charania. This makes him an unrestricted free agent this summer. He doesn’t have much time left as a top player, but neither does Curry. Both players are currently still in the league’s top 20 and the Warriors could structure Butler’s new contract to expire at the same time as Curry’s (in the summer of 2027). That would give the duo two playoff runs to maximize the end of Curry’s career.

As a smaller part of this deal, Josh Richardson, Alec Burks and Thomas Bryant would be added as salary fillers at the back end of the Warriors’ rotation. Golden State does not currently have a depth issue but would need to move multiple players to match Butler’s salary. It would be important for the Warriors to fill these empty roster spots with playable veterans.

MORE: Why it’s time for Golden State to trade Jonathan Kuminga

Why the heat does it

The Heat don’t seem entirely comfortable re-signing Butler this summer. They are not yet ready to win a championship and their team is very expensive to make up. Then it makes sense to get what they can for him and convert him to a younger group.

De’Anthony Melton will be used as a salary agent in almost every Warriors transfer, as his $12.8 salary is expiring and he is out for the remainder of his contract due to ACL surgery.

Andrew Wiggins is in a similar boat. If the Warriors want to trade for a star, his $26.3 million will have to go toward salary matching. This deal appeared to be untradeable last year, but Wiggins has played much better this season and, at 29, still has some good years left in the league.

The Warriors would also need to bring in Gary Payton II and Jonathan Kuminga to determine salary adjustment requirements.

Kuminga is the real prize in this deal for the Heat. He’s a good candidate who could be even better if he finds a more natural combination of his strengths. His downhill scoring is a hard skill to find.

As promising as Kuminga is, the Warriors still need to add more. They have two completely unprotected first-round picks and a portion of their 2030 pick (if it falls between 1-20) available for trade. It would take two of these picks to get Miami to agree to a retool.

Both the designs for 2025 and 2027 are said to be excellent. These picks may not be at the top of the draft, but the Heat have been very good at finding talent in the middle of the first round. Two picks, a handful of decent veterans and some good young talent is a fair price for Butler and would be a great deal for both sides.

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