By Anthony Slater, Joe Vardon, James Jackson, Marcus Thompson and Sam Amick
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NBA trade deadline.
Jimmy Butler is leaving Miami as he hoped, just not for his preferred destination. The NBA star landed with the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday as part of a multi-team trade that sends Andrew Wiggins and a protected first-round pick to the Heat, a team source confirmed to The Athletic.
Butler, who for months had hoped to be traded to the Phoenix Suns, agreed to a two-year, $112 million extension to stay with the Warriors. He’s declining his $52 million player’s option on his current contract for next season to sign the new extension.
It was a whirlwind day for all parties that began with the Warriors chasing Suns superstar Kevin Durant through a complex proposed trade that would’ve brought Butler to Phoenix.
As part of the trade that is bringing Butler to the Bay Area, the Warriors sent Miami a 2025 top-10 protected first-round pick. Additionally, Dennis Schröder is going from the Warriors to the Utah Jazz, who are also receiving a 2031 second-round pick from the Heat. Kyle Anderson also is in the deal, being traded by the Warriors and routed to the Toronto Raptors, but league sources said the Raptors are now out of the deal and the Heat will determine whether to hold onto him or find another team for Anderson before the 3 p.m. Thursday (EST) trade deadline.
Additionally, P.J. Tucker is going from Utah to Miami, where he played for one season in 2021-22. The Detroit Pistons are receiving Lindy Waters III from the Warriors and Josh Richardson from the Heat.
The Warriors are finally getting another co-star next to Stephen Curry, even though it meant circling back to an option they once thought was too risky. Since the departure of Klay Thompson last summer, they’ve struck out repeatedly to find another dominant offensive weapon.
But the Warriors’ desperation for a star player increased as their season spiraled after a 12-3 start. They reluctantly parted with Wiggins, a locker-room favorite, with hopes of raising the ceiling of what’s possible for these next few years — the last on Curry’s contract. Curry, Butler, Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga, when he returns from injury, will lead a Warriors squad looking to make a push toward the playoffs.
It’s the second seismic NBA swap in the last six days after the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis in a sports-world-stunning deal over the weekend. Unlike the Dončić blockbuster, Butler being traded was widely anticipated for months because of the acrimony between him and the Heat.
The Suns were part of at least two sets of talks to deal for Butler but couldn’t get him because they couldn’t convince Bradley Beal to waive his no-trade clause in Phoenix. The Suns’ asking price in talks with the Heat was too high, and Durant didn’t want to go to Golden State as part of a three-team trade that would’ve brought Butler to Phoenix, league sources said.
Instead, Butler, 35, joins a Golden State team with a 25-24 record and 10th in the Western Conference – but desperate to rocket up the standings and make another deep playoff run with Curry at 36. The Warriors currently sit 14.5 games out of first place and play the Lakers in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Golden State still has pieces to work with before Thursday’s deadline. Guard Gary Payton II and big man Kevon Looney represent more than $17 million of expiring contracts with which the Warriors could make another deal. A shooting big man was next on their list. Chicago center Nikola Vučević has been on their radar.
Butler’s troubles in Miami this season made headlines for months. Seeking a lucrative contract extension that the Heat would not provide, Butler signaled his unhappiness with the team in comments to the media and since has been suspended three times for his conduct.
Butler is averaging 17.0 points and 5.2 rebounds in 25 games this season — his lowest scoring average since his third season in the NBA in 2013-14. The Warriors will be Butler’s fifth team — he left the previous four (Chicago, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Miami) with relationships strained, destroyed or in his departure from the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent, feeling undervalued.
Yet his departure from Miami also ends one of the most successful stretches in Heat history despite it not resulting in an NBA championship. The Heat acquired Butler via a sign-and-trade with the 76ers in 2019, and during his first five seasons with the Heat, Butler led them to two NBA Finals appearances (2020, 2023), three Eastern Conference finals berths and the league’s seventh-best win percentage (.581).
Butler departs ranked eighth in points (6,630), assists (1,789) and steals (528) in Heat history while holding the franchise’s regular-season record for triple-doubles (13, four ahead of LeBron James).
However, what distinguished Butler in a Heat uniform was his knack for raising his production in the playoffs, earning the nickname “Playoff Jimmy.” He notched a team-record eight 40-point games in the postseason, including a 56-point masterpiece in Game 4 of Miami’s 2023 first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks. Nobody else in Heat history has scored at least 50 points in a playoff game. Dwyane Wade (seven) and James (three) have the Heat’s only other 40-point postseason performances.
The Warriors are hoping that Butler shows up in the Bay Area. Defenses have been loading up to stop Curry and his cohorts have not been able to take advantage consistently. The Warriors have the 19th-ranked offense in the NBA.
Initially, the Warriors were hesitant to trade for Butler. They were worried about his massive contract, injury history and track record of distraction. They also preferred someone younger. But they’d failed to land Paul George and Lauri Markkanen this past offseason and couldn’t work a deal to get Durant back in the franchise after backing out of Zach LaVine discussions.
As for the Heat, they’re getting a player in Wiggins who was an All-Star and won a championship with the Warriors in 2022. The No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft by the Cavaliers (and then traded to Minnesota for Kevin Love), Wiggins, 29, is averaging 17.6 points and shooting 38 percent from 3-point range this season. He’ll join a lineup that includes All-Star guard Tyler Herro and two-time Olympic gold medalist center Bam Adebayo.
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(Photo: Issac Baldizon / NBAE via Getty Images)
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