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The Golden State Warriors are viewed as the potential best landing spot for six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, according to Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey.
Bailey believes Butler can benefit from the Warriors’ pace-and-space schemes with Stephen Curry as the main hub of the offense.
“Curry’s unparalleled outside shooting would give Butler more room to operate in that short- to mid-range territory he already dominates. Butler’s playmaking and in-between game, in return, would make it harder to sell out on Curry’s off-ball movement,” Bailey wrote on September 16.
A Butler trade would represent an all-in move for the Warriors to maximize Curry’s remaining years as an elite player in the NBA.
No other Warrior besides Curry averaged more than 18 points per game last season. Getting Butler would give the Warriors his best co-star since Kevin Durant during their back-to-back title runs in 2017 and 2018.
Butler, 35, is called “Playoff Jimmy” for his penchant for playing big games during the postseason. While Butler lost in the NBA Finals twice with the Miami Heat, he averaged 24.1 points, 8.3 assists and 6.6 rebounds in 11 games.
Warriors Interested in Jimmy Butler: Report
The Warriors are interested in Butler, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick.
“Jimmy Butler’s going to be a free agent next summer, didn’t get an extension done,” Amick said on “The TK Show” podcast on September 12. “The Warriors, as you know, have interest there and I think probably [they] made a couple of calls during the summer.”
Butler’s future in Miami was clouded with uncertainty following Heat president Pat Riley’s telling statement during his exit interview.
“We don’t have to do that for a year,” Riley told reporters about Butler’s extension while speaking to reporters during his exit interview on May 6. “And so, we have not discussed that internally right now, but we have to look at that, making that kind of commitment.”
Butler is on the final guaranteed year of his three-year $146.4 million contract. He holds a $52.4 million player option for the 2025-26 season but is currently extension-eligible and can sign a one-year, $58.6 million extension tucked into the final year of his current deal or a two-year, $112.9 million extension that would void the player option, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The Warriors would have to give up a lot to acquire Butler.
Nets Loom as Warriors’s Rival for Jimmy Butler
The rebuilding Brooklyn Nets loom as the biggest threat to get Butler out of Miami if he enters free agency next summer.
According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, Butler is “fond” of the Nets, who will have the most cap space.
“Butler isn’t just open to Brooklyn, but fond of it, sources told The Post,” Lewis wrote on September 7. “Now, he’s not a Net and he might never get close to becoming one. But to dismiss the possibility out of hand is foolish.”
Butler will be the top free agent if the Heat does not extend him because he is likely to decline his player option, according to Lewis.
“The odds of him picking up his player option are slim unless he agrees to a max deal with the Heat beforehand,” Lewis wrote on August 31. “The six-time All-Star is the most accomplished standout on that [free agent] list not named [LeBron] James, and he likes Brooklyn, according to sources close to the player.”
With a shortage of cap room, the Warriors’ only chance at Butler is to trade for him, which the Heat would also hope to do if their franchise star wants out.
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