The Jimmy Butler saga has finally come to a close! The disgruntled NBA star has found a new home with the Golden State Warriors. However, such a trade required more moving parts. The Warriors and Miami Heat needed a few other teams to finish it.
The Full Details of the Jimmy Butler Trade
Given Butler’s expensive contract, this turned into a blockbuster trade involving four teams: the Warriors, Heat, Utah Jazz, and Detroit Pistons.
Warriors receive: Jimmy Butler
Acquiring Butler is Golden State’s one last Hail Mary trade to form a contender while they still have Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. Butler is their consolation prize after the Kevin Durant trade talks fell through.
It remains to be seen if he will fit on the team, but Golden State is banking on how much he could help. After the deal was agreed upon, they gave him a two-year extension. If Butler works out for Golden State, they will have a window but a pretty short one.
Heat receive: Andrew Wiggins, PJ Tucker, Kyle Anderson, 2025 top-10 protected first-round pick
Getting rid of Butler following all the drama was probably the biggest takeaway from the Heat’s end of this. However, by doing so, the Heat acquired more of a re-tooling package, signaling they intend to still fight for the playoffs even without Butler.
They also got a decent first-round pick from the trade, considering Golden State is fighting just to get a play-in spot. From now until the deadline, all eyes will be on their plans with Anderson and Tucker. They may keep Anderson or trade him to another team. Tucker might be waived, though he played for Miami during the 2021-22 season.
Jazz receive: Dennis Schröder, 2031 second-round pick swap (more favorable between Miami and the Indiana Pacers)
The Jazz took the opportunity to cash in on Tucker (who they were planning to trade or waive anyway) by getting Schröder. They also got another draft asset to add to their treasure trove. Off-topic: it is a little odd that Miami didn’t want Schröder because this deal signaled they haven’t changed plans.
Utah has little use for Schröder, so odds are they’ll try to sell him to the highest bidder before the trade deadline passes.
Pistons receive: Josh Richardson, Lindy Waters III
The Pistons are clearly trying to utilize their cap space. They already pried KJ Martin from the Philadelphia 76ers, so it’s no shock that they did the same here by getting Richardson and Waters.
They’ll likely keep Waters because he’s young and consistently played for the Warriors. It may not be the same case with Richardson.
