There are two diverged roads in front of the Warriors currently, as they lost Jimmy Butler to a season-ending ACL injury against the Heat. Rumors suggested that the Warriors’ front office is open to trading Jimmy Butler to maximize on their championship window with Stephen Curry.
But Mike Dunleavy, the former NBA player who now serves as the general manager of the Warriors, seems to have put these rumors to rest during his recent press conference before the team faced the Raptors.
“I don’t envision that,” said Dunleavy while a reporter asked him about whether the front office plans to move Butler’s contract, given his injury rehab timeline.
“But now that you’ve brought it up, I guess what I envision for him is giving us the boost next year like he did last year for us when he arrived. So at some point during the season, he’ll return and be the player he’s been.”
“At his age, what he’s doing this year is impressive. I think he’s got a style of game where he can play for a long time. His feel, his physicality, and his mind for the game. So my vision for him is to return at some point between now and this time next season,” concluded Dunleavy.
However, the Warriors fans felt a wave of deja vu, a feeling like they’ve seen this before with Dunleavy. According to the Warriors fans, Dunleavy and the front office said similar things about Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins as well, just days before trading them.
“I don’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth after what he did with Poole, lmao.”
“He said this about Poole and Wiggins, and both were gone within a week 💀.”
“I’ve seen this playbook before.”
“We said this about Poole and Wiggins.”
“He said Poole was not going to be traded and then dumped him in the next week. An offseason trade is the most likely scenario if the Mavs are not desperate enough to get off AD this deadline.”
“We are so cooked.”
“If this is his plan, then that means he’s wasting Steph’s remaining good years.. It’s heartbreaking to see Jimmy get traded, but if that’s what it takes to get Steph some help, then I’m all in.”
In June 2023, Dunleavy said the Warriors planned on having Poole with the team for four more years at least, just days before trading him to the Wizards for Chris Paul.
Similarly, in January 2025, a reliable Warriors insider claimed the front office does not plan on moving Wiggins, weeks before Jimmy Butler was traded to the Golden State for him.
The Warriors’ front office has come under scrutiny ever since Bob Myers stepped down from his position. Mike Dunleavy may have made some questionable moves before, but here’s why some Warriors fans should believe him this time.
Firstly, it is extremely hard to trade away an injured player who is on a max contract (taking up approximately 35% of the salary cap space) worth $56.8 million next season.
He is a 36-year-old veteran who was averaging 20.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists while shooting 51.9% from the field before this ACL injury ended his season.
Secondly, the Warriors have an internal solution of using young players like Gui Santos into action, and even the possibility of bringing the disgruntled youngster Jonathan Kuminga back into the rotation minutes.
But neither of those solutions results in a title-contending team for the Warriors. Therefore, it will be interesting to see whether the Warriors push to trade Butler and maximize their championship-contending window, or they decide to wait for Butler’s return.
