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The Jimmy Butler saga is finally over for the Miami Heat.
The three-time NBA champions reportedly agreed to trade the six-time All-Star to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schröder, Kyle Anderson and a protected first-round pick, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Schröder will head to the Utah Jazz as part of a multi-team deal, as multiple reporters details:
Shams Charania @ShamsCharania
As part of the deal, Warriors’ Lindy Waters III and Heat’s Josh Richardson are headed to the Detroit Pistons, sources said. <a href=”https://t.co/JPBWVEnPZJ”>https://t.co/JPBWVEnPZJ</a>
Chris Haynes @ChrisBHaynes
Miami Heat to receive PJ Tucker and Andrew Wiggins in what is a five-team deal, league sources tell me.
Shams Charania @ShamsCharania
Miami is keeping Kyle Anderson for now, sources said. So Wiggins, Tucker and Anderson are in Miami along with the Warriors’ protected first-rounder. <a href=”https://t.co/jo4Ar64CB1″>https://t.co/jo4Ar64CB1</a>
Chris Haynes @ChrisBHaynes
Sources: Golden State sending Miami a 2025 Top 10 protected first. Next year it’s Top 10 protected and then unprotected following year. Dennis Schröder headed to Utah and Kyle Anderson to Detroit. <a href=”https://t.co/zfFkF1YRVa”>https://t.co/zfFkF1YRVa</a>
Butler didn’t just get a trade. He also reportedly landed a new contract as part of the deal.
Charania explained Butler will decline his 2025-26 player option and agree to a new two-year, $121 million extension with the Warriors that runs through the 2026-27 campaign.
This comes after a total breakdown in the relationship between the Heat and their best player. Butler was suspended on three different occasions, the most recent of which was for an indefinite period of time and effectively sealed his exit.
Things were always going to come to a head sooner or later.
Butler had that $52.4 million player option for 2025-26, so he was in effect entering the final year of his contract. Charania reported in June for The Athletic he was refraining from signing an extension with the Heat with an eye toward free agency.
Then came Butler’s now-infamous press conference in which he said he had lost his “joy” on the court and didn’t think he’d rediscover it in Miami. A report on his desire for a trade followed shortly thereafter.
In general, the Heat have been loathe to pack it in, even for one season, with Pat Riley leading the front office, and that’s what trading Butler would basically mean. ESPN’s Bobby Marks noted the current collective bargaining agreement also provides a broad incentive for resisting trade overtures and letting a star walk in free agency.
Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42
Important to remember that instead of taking back contracts that hurt flexibility, the Clippers let Paul George leave in free agency for nothing.<br><br>The savings turned into James Harden, Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn, Kevin Porter Jr., Nicolas Batum and extensions for Terance Mann,… <a href=”https://t.co/0sETLYPtlE”>https://t.co/0sETLYPtlE</a>
This all stems from the fact that re-signing Butler was a topic that required some serious deliberations for Miami. Thanks to a lot of factors, it wasn’t as simple as offering the most money at the earliest opportunity.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne also laid out how the Heat afforded Butler the privileges you’d come to expect for a star player and then some. Over time, the bargain appeared to be less and less worth it for Miami, especially when it has succeeded in making “Heat Culture” such a big part of its organizational identity.
Especially with the benefit of hindsight, a comment made by Riley at his exit interview last spring was telling.
WPLG Local 10 Sports @Local10Sports
Pat Riley on Jimmy Butler’s comments that the Heat would’ve won over Boston if he were healthy… “you should keep your mouth shut” <a href=”https://t.co/K1K3RVo0lt”>pic.twitter.com/K1K3RVo0lt</a>
That was a pretty emphatic rebuke of a star player, and Jackson and Chiang said in their report that that Butler “was caught off guard” by Riley’s comment. That might’ve been a point of no return.
There’s no question the 6’7″ forward has made his old teams pay when they expressed any sort of reservations about his value.
The Chicago Bulls didn’t view him as a foundational cornerstone and have come to regret it ever since. His contract dispute with the Minnesota Timberwolves sowed the seeds for hm to go scorched earth there and set the organization back years. Philadelphia 76ers fans rued for a long time what could’ve been if the Sixers had basically chosen him over Ben Simmons.
Butler is also the biggest reason why the Heat became a title contender again. In the five years between the end of Miami’s Big Three era and his arrival, the team made the playoffs twice and failed to advance past the second round on both occasions.
Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz @LeBatardShow
“I think it would be crazy for the Heat not to extend Jimmy Butler…No superstar in the NBA has done more with less than Jimmy Butler has in the last five years.” – <a href=”https://twitter.com/RohanNadkarni?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@RohanNadkarni</a> <br><br>We examine what the Heat should do in the wake of Pat Riley’s comments about Jimmy Butler. <br><br>📺… <a href=”https://t.co/1XkFZnNon1″>pic.twitter.com/1XkFZnNon1</a>
He had a strong case to approach the front office and ask for a max contract. The Heat, however, had an equally strong case to haggle over the terms and not reflexively put a max offer on the table.
Butler averaged 20.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 2023-24. He also shot 49.9 percent overall and 41.4 percent from beyond the arc. His scoring average (22.9) and field-goal percentage (53.9) both dipped a bit from 2022-23.
Although his scoring (17.0 points) is continuing to trend downward, he has become a more efficient shooter (54.0 percent overall) in 2024-25.
In terms of projecting how much he’ll be worth moving forward, the fact Butler only suited up for 60 games a season ago continued a worrying trend as well. Not once since getting traded to Miami has he logged more than 64 appearances in a single season.
There’s also a cost to the way in which Butler seemingly holds something back in the regular season to save his best for the playoffs. That sounds great in theory, but it’s not a coincidence the Heat fell into the play-in tournament in each of the last two years.
The 2024 playoffs provided a reality check about the notion Butler and Miami can keep flipping a switch when it matters the most.
If push came to shove and he was insistent on demanding a max extension, then moving on from the decorated two-way star is the smart long-term play. In addition to the concerns about his age, the CBA means front offices have to be more diligent in how they spend. Locking in Butler beyond 2025 could’ve resigned Miami to a fate where it’s basically in the same position it is now, only with steadily diminishing returns.
This represents a bit of a departure for Riley and his distaste for rebuilds. There was almost no scenario in which Miami could trade Butler and avoid taking a step backward.
The Heat are hoping they don’t become the next NBA franchise that regrets the day it crossed Jimmy Buckets.
For the Warriors, they hope Butler is the star who puts them over the top as they try to capture one more championship with Stephen Curry on the roster.
Since winning the 2022 NBA Finals, Golden State lost in the conference semifinals and then failed to make the postseason entirely. The front office acknowledged with the sign-and-trade of Klay Thompson last summer that major changes were required, and attempts to land Paul George or Lauri Markkanen during the 2024 offseason were both unsuccessful.
Acquiring Butler certainly presents some risks because going all in to this degree will make the inevitable rebuild once Curry is gone all the more difficult. But the Warriors were limited in how much they could upgrade the supporting cast around Steph, and this might’ve been the best they could in terms of an all-in move.
