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The Golden State Warriors have emerged as the frontrunners to land Jimmy Butler if the Miami Heat trade the six-time NBA All-Star.
Butler has a strong interest in joining Stephen Curry and the Warriors, Shams Charania of ESPN indicated on “NBA Today” on December 17, doubling down on his earlier report.
“The Suns and the Warriors are believed to be atop their list, his preferred win-now destination, if the Miami Heat were to trade him, with the Rockets and Mavericks being the others,” Charania said. “This is a fluid situation that we’ll see play out over the coming weeks.”
The latest reporting surrounding Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat on NBA Today: pic.twitter.com/w8TpCuQ7jd
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 17, 2024
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The Warriors have the cleanest path to trading for Butler with different combinations of draft picks, young players such as Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski and midsize contracts, including their newest acquisition Dennis Schröder, to work around with.
The Rockets have already dropped out of the Butler sweepstakes after Rafael Stone, the team’s general manager, went on record that they do not plan to make significant changes to their young but ascending team. On the other hand, the Mavericks have no interest in adding another max player as they already have two of them — Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, who are also ball-dominant stars. They would need to gut their depth for Butler.
Meanwhile, the Suns have limited assets. They have Bradley Beal’s $50.2 million as their salary ballast, but they would need him to waive his no-trade clause. It also doesn’t make sense for the Heat to replace Butler with the injury-prone Suns guard’s onerous contract.
Beal is owed $110 million over the next two years after this season.
Butler is in the second season of a three-year, $146.4 million contract with next year a player option.
Warriors’ Jimmy Butler Interest Could Lead to ‘Substantive Talks’
According to Substack’s NBA insider Marc Stein, the Warriors’ interest in Butler is the strongest among the four teams mentioned as potential landing spots.
“League insiders continue to describe Golden State, as things currently stand, as the only team of the four most frequently mentioned as potential Butler suitors as having an interest in the 35-year-old that could eventually lead to some substantive trade talks,” Stein wrote.
The Warriors have checked in with the Heat after Butler did not get an extension in the offseason, per Sam Amick of The Athletic.
“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.”
However, at that time, the Heat were not as open as it is now in listening to offers for Butler.
Joe Lacob Hints at Another Move After Dennis Schröder Trade
The Warriors have been aggressively pursuing another star to pair with Curry in their bid to extend their championship window.
After their failed pursuits of LeBron James, Paul George and Lauri Markkanen in the offseason, could they finally land one in Butler?
Following the Warriors’ latest loss — 143-133 to the Mavericks on December 15, team owner Joe Lacob hinted they aren’t done making moves after the Schröder acquisition.
“Trades are hard. I’ve made this comment before,” Lacob told Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard . “This one (Schröder trade) was available for us at the right time, and hopefully another one, might be two. … Obviously, if we keep losing, I’m going to want to … do something else.”
The next 25 games between now and the February 6 trade deadline will make or break this Warriors roster.
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