Jimmy Butler to Warriors in massive five-team trade involving Heat, Pistons, Jazz and Raptors

Keith Smith
Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertFebruary 07, 2025
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#nba #nba trade deadline #toronto raptors #utah jazz #detroit pistons #miami heat #golden state warriors
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The Jimmy Butler saga is over! It was a complicated five-team deal in the end that saw a lot of player and draft pick movement.

Here are the particulars:

Golden State Warriors acquire: Jimmy Butler

Miami Heat acquire: Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell, 2025 Warriors top-10 protected first-round pick

Detroit Pistons acquire: Dennis Schroder, Lindy Waters III, least favorable 2031 Warriors or Timberwolves second-round pick

Utah Jazz acquire: KJ Martin, Josh Richardson, least favorable 2028 Pistons, Hornets, Clippers, Heat or Rockets second-round pick, most favorable 2031 Pacers or Heat second-round pick, Cash

Raptors acquire: P.J. Tucker, 2026 Lakers second-round pick, Cash

Let’s dive in!

Golden State Warriors

Incoming salary: $48.8 million in 2024-25

  • Jimmy Butler (SF, two years, $101.2 million (final year player option))
  • Note: Butler declined his player option for 2025-26 and signed a two-year, $112.5 million extension

Outgoing salary: $50.3 million in 2024-25

  • Andrew Wiggins (SF, three years, $84.7 million (final season player option))
  • Dennis Schroder (PG, one year, $13 million)
  • Kyle Anderson (PF, three years, $27.7 million (final season fully non-guaranteed))
  • Lindy Waters III (SG/SF, one year, $2.2 million)

The Warriors were committed to landing a star at this deadline. And they wanted to do so without giving up multiple first-round picks or Jonathan Kuminga.

Mission accomplished.

Butler comes in and seems very happy to be in the Bay Area. That’s a huge plus, given we know what happens when Butler isn’t happy. Part of the reason Butler is happy is to be out of Miami. The other part is the shiny new $112.5 million extension that he signed with the Warriors.

This trade probably doesn’t happen without Butler’s willingness to sign that extension. Sure, you can quibble about spending that kind of money for a 36-year-old perimeter player who has averaged 22 missed games per season over his past three full seasons. That deal probably won’t look good in Year 3.

But for the Warriors, you let tomorrow’s problems be tomorrow’s problems. They wanted to give Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr help to make another run. Butler does that.

Butler isn’t a shooter. That means Golden State will need to keep Curry and at least one or two other shooters on the floor when Butler and Green share the floor. But that’s about the only weakness in Butler’s game.

The veteran wing is still an outstanding creator, both for himself and his teammates. Butler excels in getting to his spots for midrange jumpers, and he’s still a strong finisher around the rim. He’s also terrific at setting up teammates. His skill-set should fit in quite well within the Warriors read-and-react system.

On defense, Butler is better defending bigger wings at this point in his career. He’s not quite as versatile as Andrew Wiggins, who he’s replacing, but Butler is still an above-average defender.

Giving up a first-round pick was a bit rough, but the Warriors don’t really have time for developmental projects. They’d rather use that roster spot in the coming years on a veteran addition that can give them productive minutes now.

Golden State has some more roster work to do. They started that process by converting Quinten Post from his two-way deal to a standard contract. Post has played well and gives the Warriors a stretch-five element that they’ve lacked.

Golden State still has three more open standard roster spots (they’ll have to fill at least two of them eventually), and now and open two-way spot. Because they are only $1.37 million under their first-apron hard cap, expect the Warriors to play some roster games with 10 Day deals until making rest-of-season signings late in the regular season.

Miami Heat

Incoming salary: $41.5 million in 2024-25

  • Andrew Wiggins (SF, three years, $84.7 million (final season player option))
  • Kyle Anderson (PF, three years, $27.7 million (final season fully non-guaranteed))
  • Davion Mitchell (PG, one year, $6.5 million)

Outgoing salary: $51.9 million in 2024-25

  • Jimmy Butler (SF, two years, $101.2 million (final year player option))
  • Josh Richardson (SG/PG, one year, $3.1 million)

Considering the Heat were backed into a corner with trading Jimmy Butler, they did pretty well here. Miami saved a good amount of money in the near term, while adding three helpful players.

Andrew Wiggins is a good player and should fit in well alongside Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro in the Heat’s starting lineup. Don’t be surprised to see Wiggins push back to nearly 20 points per game in Miami’s equal opportunity offensive system. The veteran wing is also a solid defender, who adds some versatility to Erik Spoelstra’s defensive schemes.

Davion Mitchell just seems like a Heat player. Given all the off-court uncertainty with Terry Rozier III, and his slipping on-court production, Mitchell could be a long-term player in Miami. He’s a bulldog defensively and showed some playmaking skills for Toronto at points this season. At the very least, Mitchell will be the best backcourt defender on the roster.

It’s unknown what kind of role Kyle Anderson will play. Early reports were that Miami was trying to move Anderson on to another team, but was unable to do so. The 12th-year forward is a solid connector on offense. He moves the ball well and he can hit the occasional jumper too. Anderson is also a solid defender. Don’t be surprised if Spoelstra finds a way to work him into his rotation.

Getting the Warriors first-round pick is a nice addition in this deal for the Heat. Miami has drafted well in the back half of the first round previously. This pick will likely convey this year in the mid-to-late teens. That’s good, given Miami has been out some draft picks in recent years.

Butler put the Heat in a nearly impossible situation. There was no way they could bring him back. That would have been a disaster for all parties involved. Now, the team can move forward with some solid players, some roster certainty and hopefully far less drama.

Detroit Pistons

Incoming salary: $15.2 million in 2024-25

  • Dennis Schroder (PG, one year, $13 million)
  • Lindy Waters III (SG/SF, one year, $2.2 million)

Outgoing salary: $7.9 million in 2024-25

  • KJ Martin (PF/SF, two years, $16 million (final season non-guaranteed))
  • Note 1: We’ll also cover the Pistons acquiring KJ Martin from the Philadelphia 76ers here in a previous trade
  • Note 2: The Pistons waived Wendell Moore Jr. to create the roster space to complete these moves

Detroit did well with their cap space. For a little bit, it looked like Trajan Langdon was going to eat a couple of a salaries for assets. That would have been fine, but a late swerve brought in Dennis Schroder as a helpful rotation player. Don’t count out Lindy Waters III either.

In this five-team deal and the earlier deal with the Sixers, the Pistons added a sum total of two new second-round picks (three in, one out). But this wasn’t just about the picks for a change. Detroit added roster help too.

Schroder will play an immediate role for the Pistons as a backup ballhandler. With Jaden Ivey out for a while longer (Ivey could return before the end of the regular season), JB Bickerstaff really needed another on-ball playmaker. Too much of the burden to create everything was falling on Cade Cunningham. If the Pistons want to make a real run at the playoffs, they can’t burn out Cunningham in the regular season.

That’s where Schroder will help. He’s still a good scorer, and he’s a far better fit in the Pistons pick-and-roll heavy offense than the Warriors read-and-react system. Schroder will work the screen games to get downhill, to get to his pullup or to set up teammates.

Waters is a shooter. On nights when Malik Beasley or Tim Hardaway Jr. are out or off the mark, Bickerstaff can go to Waters.

The mechanics of the Pistons deadline maneuvering were fascinating too. Detroit entered the day with $14 million in cap space. They first used some of that space to acquire KJ Martin in a salary-shedding move from the 76ers. Detroit then flipped Martin to the Jazz in this five-team deal, with Schroder eating up most of the remaining cap space. Waters was then acquired via the Minimum Exception. Crucially, this sequence of moves left the Pistons with the full $7.9 million Room Exception. That could be handy to help Langdon outbid rivals during buyout season.

For the 76ers part in the previous trade of Martin to Detroit, they got a minimal amount of cash. The real get for Philadelphia was getting under the luxury tax for this season.

Utah Jazz

Incoming salary: $11 million in 2024-25

  • KJ Martin (PF/SF, two years, $16 million (final season non-guaranteed))
  • Josh Richardson (SG/PG, one year, $3.1 million)

Outgoing salary: $11.5 million in 2024-25

  • P.J. Tucker (PF, one year, $11.5 million)
  • Note: The Jazz waived Jalen Hood-Schifino to create the roster space  to complete this trade

The Jazz jumped into this deal to act as a facilitator, while picking up some additional draft capital. In addition, Utah will take a flyer on Martin for the remainder of this season. As his contract is non-guaranteed for 2025-26, the Jazz can move on at no cost this summer, if Martin doesn’t work out.

Martin is an uber-athletic forward. He should get a chance to show what he can do, as Utah has regularly been holding their veteran players out of games. Given the Jazz chances at good lottery odds, don’t expect that to stop anytime soon. That will give Martin the opportunity to show he can be someone worth keeping around beyond this season.

Richardson will reportedly be waived. He could still help a team that needs some backcourt help. The challenge for Richardson has been getting and staying healthy this season.

Toronto Raptors

Incoming salary: $11.5 million in 2024-25

  • P.J. Tucker (PF, one year, $11.5 million)

Outgoing salary: $6.5 million in 2024-25

  • Davion Mitchell (PG, one year, $6.5 million)

The Raptors used some of their space under the luxury tax to help facilitate this trade. In exchange for taking on Tucker’s salary, Toronto picked up a second-round pick.

Trading Mitchell might seem like a giveaway, but Toronto wants to give the backup point guard minutes to rookie Jamal Shead. Considering Shead is younger version of Mitchell in many ways, it makes sense to prioritize playing time for the rookie.

It’s expected the Raptors will eventually waive Tucker. Toronto is in the midst of churning the bottom of their roster, including promoting Jamison Battle from his two-way contract.

 


#nba #nba trade deadline #toronto raptors #utah jazz #detroit pistons #miami heat #golden state warriors
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