Yup! Another huge trade!
Jimmy Butler was just traded to the Golden State Warriors for Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson, and a first-round pick!
He has agreed to a two-year $121 million extension.
A lot happened leading up to this trade. Here is the breakdown of what occurred:
December 10th - ESPN's reporter Shams Charania reported that "The Heat are open to listening to offers for Butler and making a deal if the proposal is right" He later added that Butler "is believed to prefer a win-now contender in any trade." This basically means he didn't want to be part of the rebuilding of a team, he just wanted to join and contribute to a team that already has a chance of winning it all.
January 2nd - Butler officially requested to be traded and said that he is open to playing anywhere except Miami
January 3rd - Butler was suspended 7 games for “multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team” Miami said that his actions have “shown he no longer wants to be part of this team.” This suspension also lost Butler $2.35 Million. It was also reported that there were a number of times that Butler skipped team practices and chose to fly on a separate plane.
January 22nd - Butler was suspended yet again for missing a team flight.
January 27th - Butler was suspended indefinitely after walking out of team practice after being told that the team was planning to take him out of the starting lineup.
February 5th - Shams officially announced this trade sending Butler to the Warriors!
Butler has been an amazing player throughout his career being named an All-Star 6 times. However,
Butler is now in his 14th NBA season at 35 years old, which is definitely on the older side for a player. He is currently averaging 17 Points, 5 Rebounds, and 5 Assists. This is his lowest scoring average since the 2018-19 season. He is doing it on a career-best 56% shooting but this is probably also because he is taking fewer shots. He has also played less than 65 out of the 82 games every season since this 2018-19 season.
This will be fun to watch with the new trio of Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green, and it will be interesting to see how well they can play together. They have the potential to be really good or not really change that much.
Jimmy Butler in his time with the Heat:
-2x NBA Finals appearances
-Eastern Conference Finals MVP
-2x All-Star
-Most triple-doubles in franchise history
-Most 40+ point playoff games in franchise history
-Most points in a playoff game in Miami Heat history (56)
-Led the NBA in steals in 2021
-1st all-time in Miami Heat steals per game
-3rd highest points per game in franchise history
-3rd highest assists per game in franchise history
Exciting times!
Always first