The Jimmy Butler trade saga has been one of the most long-winded episodes in recent history. One team that isn’t going to go after him is the Golden State Warriors. The Athletic’s Sam Amick spoke on ‘Run It Back’ about the Warriors’ mindset, and how they don’t want to bring Butler in on a rental, as they won’t pay him what he wants. Additionally, they want to trust Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga.
“They don’t have interest in giving him the deal that he’s waiting for on the other end, and I don’t think they’re looking to make him a rental and have it be a strained relationship with him coming to town if they somehow were able to get him, in spite of the fact that they don’t want to do a max extension.”
“That being said, the other night when I’m in San Francisco… After the game, there’s a place called the Bridge Club near the arena floor at Chase Center. The owner Joe Lacob and GM Mike Dunleavy often meet there… It sounds like it got a little spicy down there, just as far as the post-loss unpacking of what had happened on the floor.”
“You felt some people who walked by and even engaged with Joe and Mike could really, really feel the frustration from the group. And that makes a lot of sense, they just got beat really badly.”
“Whether it’s Jimmy Butler or anybody else, there’s going to be a constant recalculation happening for teams like the Warriors and just ‘What do we need to do?’. Because it’s one thing to not feel like you’re a contender, it’s another to go out and just get destroyed by a Heat team that didn’t have Jimmy Butler.”
“Their reasoning for not going after Jimmy, even beyond the money, is that, to this point, they’ve been pretty happy with Andrew Wiggins’ play, and the idea of also giving up a Jonathan Kuminga in that deal, even though he’s hurt right now, is something they weren’t looking to do.”
The Warriors are still peckish on making the move for Jimmy Butler, despite having a long-standing interest in him and needing reinforcements to improve the team. While their hesitation over offering Jimmy Butler a big contract come the end of the season is valid, it is a source of frustration for Warriors fans who are seeing their team underdeliver on a near-nightly basis.
This report from Amick is a confirmation that the Warriors are unlikely to go after Butler ahead of the trade deadline, which was reported earlier. It appears the Warriors would rather find another player (or players) to help their team before February 6th.
However, if things were to get worse for Golden State, they might reconsider. Perhaps a serious losing streak might force Mike Dunleavy’s hand and force him to make a trade for Jimmy Butler.
In that case, he might have to rope in other teams to get it done. We here at Fadeaway World imagined what a four-team trade for Butler could look like, and Golden State get everything they want in this mock deal.
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