Jimmy Butler‘s time as a member of the Miami Heat has come to an end. Butler, the veteran wing whose relationship with the team had turned sour over recent months, received the move that he’s coveted ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline on Thursday afternoon, as the Heat decided to send him to the Golden State Warriors.
According to Shams Charania, Golden State will send Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, and Kyle Anderson to the Heat along with a first round pick — after pivoting from a pursuit of Kevin Durant earlier in the week. The Pistons joined the deal as a third team to take on salary, per Charania, as they entered Wednesday as the only team in the NBA below the salary cap number. They were not alone, though, as the deal got expanded to five teams, including the Utah Jazz, per Charania, Jake Fischer, and Chris Haynes.
The Raptors’ initial inclusion in the deal fell apart and, for the moment, no one is quite sure exactly where Kyle Anderson is going, per Fischer and Charania.
Warriors get: Jimmy Butler
Heat get: Andrew Wiggins, PJ Tucker, and a 2025 top-10 protected first round pick via GSW
Pistons get: Lindy Waters and Josh Richardson
Jazz get: Dennis Schroder
Someone gets: Kyle Anderson
Butler joined the Heat via a sign-and-trade with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019, and has had some of the most productive and successful years of his career in Miami. He led the team to a pair of NBA Finals berths, although the team has not been able to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy with Butler at the helm.
That last thing was brought up by Pat Riley at his end of season press conference last year, which laid the groundwork for the ongoing tension between the franchise and Butler, who is eligible for a contract extension this summer but never seemed like he was going to get one from his current employer. It has led to a prolonged trade saga, one in which Butler has made clear that he wants a change in scenery and the Heat have suspended him on multiple occasion.
Now, he’ll head to the Warriors who have been desperately searching for a second star to pair with Stephen Curry. Butler initially said he would likely to decline his player option this summer and hit the free agent market, but with few teams capable of paying him without it being a sign-and-trade, the Warriors were also able to negotiate a two-year, $121 million extension with Butler, per Charania. That extension will kick in next season as Butler is declining his player option for the new deal.
The Heat wanted to avoid taking on any long-term salary in the trade, which is why the Warriors couldn’t really get involved until Wednesday when Dennis Schroder became eligible to be aggregated with other players in a trade. Wiggins has one more year on his deal before a player option and Tucker is on an expiring (and is familiar with the Heat). They also move off of Richardson’s contract by sending him to Detroit, which negates some of the incoming money as well. The Heat also got a real first round pick, as the Warriors right now are expected to land outside the top 10 of the lottery, for this year to continue injecting some youth into their roster.