We are over one week away from the 2024-25 NBA Trade Deadline, with still plenty of grey area surrounding Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, who’s serving his third suspension this month for withholding services from the team.
ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst has suggested–on multiple occassions–over the last 24 hours that the asking price for the 35-year-old forward has lowered with his “price is at a point where more teams are in.” While there’s still uncertainty about which teams are pursuing Butler–and what they may be offering–Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor suggested one previously-rumored Butler destination could be back in.
“Sources: The Warriors are one of several teams back in the mix for Jimmy Butler now that the Heat have lowered their asking price,” O’Connor tweeted Tuesday.
The Warriors have been one destination that has been linked to Jimmy Butler since the offseason. ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania floated them–along with the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks–as possible destinations in early December. Though their pursuit was shot down by Anthony Slater, Sam Amick and Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic in early January.
“According to a source close to Butler, the Warriors are not currently seen as a viable option and there have been no substantive talks or traction to get any type of deal done,” the report read. “Some credence exists to the idea that his midrange repertoire and defensive prowess could elevate the Warriors into that next tier of playoff threat. But Butler’s age and injury history makes him a risky choice. His price tag makes him an untenable option.”
The biggest complication with Golden State as a possible suitor still exists: It’s hard-capped below the first apron and less than $600K away from said apron. Thus, Golden State is riding a very fine line in salaries they can send out and take back.
The Warriors’ desire to acquire another star alongside Stephen Curry is well-known. Though pursuing Butler likely means a third-team has to get involved, which I’ve argued is tougher to execute in-season when we’re talking about $50 million being exchanged between teams at or near either off the two aprons.
Any deal with Golden State likely begins with Andrew Wiggins finding a new home–whether it’s in Miami or elsewhere. It’s been previously reported that the Heat are trying to limit any long-term money taken back while eyeing the 2026 offseason. Wiggins is on the books for $26.3 million this season, $28.2 million next season with a $30.2 million player option in 2026-27, which will only look better as time goes on with the projected cap increase.
Do you see the Warriors as a viable Jimmy Butler destination? Let us know in the comments!
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Two egomaniacs butting heads, both acting like idiots. The price should be lower, as Jimmy is probably going to be just a rental now. And he’s going to get a lot smaller salary when he finally does find a team, and that team will likely regret taking him on eventually.
But, the Heat organization is the big losers. And the GM is largely to blame and his reputation has deservedly taken a hit also. Another poor move to put in the ever growing recent history of bad ones by our GM, not trading Jimmy during the off season, something almost everyone on this site clamored for, including me. While the GM was getting deified his hard work last off-season yielded us Burks, which is why this whole showdown with Jimmy started.
And now, with the deadline days away, hopefully no one will be accepting of any excuses if no trade is completed.
pat should have never taken a shot at jimmy .if he didnt do that we are not here right now.both are at fault to late now 30 but we have ware and jimmy doesnt.future looks ok and in the off season with jim off the books pat better add.an all star type player
Yes, another irony of this situation is they did not use Ware in the starting line-up until after Jimmy started losing interest. That was another thing everyone on this board had right way before the people running the team did.
I honestly believe our site would have this team in better shape than those in charge.
In fairness, the pick of Ware was tremendous and I would be surprised if anyone here was leaning that way. But, the summer of Burks, the non-trade of Jimmy, we all would have done better.
That’s not really accurate. In no way shape or form was Ware ready at the start of the season to play like this in a starting role. Go check the game logs. They brought him along as he was getting 7 to 9 points a game here and there. He didn’t know where to be on both ends often. To his and staffs credit they have put in the work and by the time January came around, about 4 months from the start of camp, he’s now ready to contribute a lot more. And we know he’s still only a rookie. There will be ups and downs. My half-cent
Yes, you are right. He couldn’t be put in right away. But, maybe about two, possibly three weeks before they finally put him in did we start saying time to get him in there, it’s the fastest way for him to learn. Its just ironic that the most help we could give the team, other than a trade, and alleviate some of Jimmy’s concerns, the best way to improve our results from within, came finally after the blank hit the fan with Jimmy.
And that brings us to another issue, how much of an over expectation was there from our GM to count on Bryant and Love to man the middle, particularly when it might take four months for a particularly gifted rookie to become ready to start. That’s not a viable answer to the center position nor is making Bam play there. I think there is adequate reason to think Jimmy might feel undersupported.
I agree they could have shared a little more time than they did leading up to the full unleashing.
No idea on Bryant and Love. My guess is they thought those two would be enough until Ware was ready and then probably bench Love, though Bryant looked unplayable. He’s slightly better in Indiana, but rarely ever plays 20 mins. So it looks like a gaping hole at center from the start of the season. This is why I think a Portis trade would help. He could play the 5 or 4 off the bench and be another big body option in limited minutes.
I can’t wait to talk about the teams outlook after the trade.
I disagree. Jimmy was barely playing the last two seasons and always waiting for the playoffs to turn it on. It cost the team last year. What do you think was going to happen if we would have extended him? It definitely wasn’t going to get better and he would be taking a massive chunk out of the cap leaving the Heat with no real moves to make.
Now if you want to say they should have traded him last summer, okay. That’s fair. But I think considering what Jimmy had done for the organization up until that point Pat wanted it to work out. For Jimmy to take the regular season serious and EARN than contract. Not loaf right into it. Anywho, the team will be alright as we already see what the future looks like. It’s large. It’s hairy. It’s Warewolf!
You make good points in the second half of your comment. I understand why the GM thought another year with Jimmy was worth a try, but we here did all think that was a low percentage move. Now Jimmy’s return will be much less.
As to the first paragraph, I am pretty sure we were all in agreement that Jimmy wasn’t worth resigning due to how it limits other moves. And we all saw the first signs of him losing a step which he now clearly has.
Some things can be handled better in past, that’s for sure, but the basic decision about Butler was correct. He shouldn’t get his extension and he didn’t.
From that decision on it was all about Jimmy, not Riley, except those public comments last year, which were also correct, but not well accepted by Jimmy.
I think its clear that Jimmy is hunting his last big contract, nothing else. Nothing Riley can do right now but giving him his contract wouldn’t change anything.
But I agree, they need to trade him now. Everybody knows that, that’s why everybody are playing games. Things will heat up in the middle of next week.
Three things the Heat should keep in mind, #1 on the list is very important particularly for Spo as he is fond of doing.
We all do hope Spo has an awakening from that Bam-Ware combo and would build on that and not regress. Well it’s on Pat’s table now to make things happen
I think the Heat would be happy to get a couple expiring contracts and a couple draft picks to be traded later.
No good team would trade anything of value for Jimmy Buter at this point in his career. No bad team is trading for Jimmy Butler period. The only teams that would trade for this version of Jimmy Butler is a desperate veteran team.
There are about five of those teams in the league, and that’s before we disqualify the ones that are capped out, the ones that are Eastern Conference Playoff Rivals, and the ones that just don’t want the hasell.
So who’s left after that? Memphis and Golden State? Maybe one of the LA teams? It’s a short list. Just get expiring contracts and some trade juice and live to trade another day
Let’s say you have two offers on the table. One from GSW centered around Wiggins or Bucks around Portis/Middleton? AS much as I would like to ship him to the western conference, for the Heats future, I think the Bucks deal is the way to go. I think Portis could actually help this team off the bench and the contracts expire when you want. At worst they become an expiring contract you can use in a deal next year.
If we ended up with Wiggins at least he’s a solid 3 and D guy, which this team could use, especially since we have a gaping hole in Butler’s absence of zero production.
I agree with first two, but we do need a point guard alongide Herro in starting lineup. Dru would be perfect for that, but he is injuried.
Herro was always a bad playmaker, he improved himselves to an average one. So Dunc and Bam should (and Butler) must do some playmaking too. Its just not ideal. If there is a possibility to get Giddey, Ball or even Simmons, that would be a great addition.