The wait is over.
After watching four teams in their conference make blockbuster trades over the weekend, the Golden State Warriors have closed a deal of their own.
On Wednesday, the Warriors completed a four-team trade that will net them forward Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Dennis Schroder, and a top-10 protected 2025 pick.
Should that pick not make it to Miami next year, the same protections would apply in 2026 before becoming unprotected in 2027, according to reports. Schroder, meanwhile, will be rerouted to the Utah Jazz.
Warriors guard Lindy Waters III and Heat guard Josh Richardson were moved to the Detroit Pistons to make the deal work under the league’s salary cap rules.
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As a part of the trade agreement, The Athletic reported that Butler will decline his $52 million player option next season and sign a new two-year, $112 million extension with the Warriors — which would make him the second highest-paid player on the team, next to Stephen Curry, once the deal goes into effect.
It's a two-year, $112 million extension for Jimmy Butler, sources tell me and @Sam_Amick. He declined player option. So Warriors give him an extra year at $58 million to get trade across finish line and line his contract timeline up with Steph Curry's. https://t.co/51yS8sPCdF
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 6, 2025
If the pick still has not conveyed by 2026 draft (very unlikely, it would seem), the Heat will receive GSW's 2027 first-round pick unprotected as part of the Butler deal, sources say. https://t.co/pl6x6LXsTo
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) February 6, 2025
Butler, who turned 35 last year, hasn’t played for the Heat since Jan. 21. His six-year tenure with the team was as successful as it was acrimonious. He guided Miami twice to the NBA finals (in 2020 and 2023) but was suspended three times this season for unprofessional conduct.
Wiggins, whom the Warriors traded for in 2020, had cemented himself as the team’s starting small forward, making the All-Star team in 2022 and playing a pivotal role in the team’s championship-winning season that year.
After two uneven seasons in which he missed multiple games to tend to his late, ailing father, Wiggins had returned to form this year, averaging 17.6 points per game.
The Warriors currently only have 11 players under contract. Per league rules, they have until Feb. 20 to get back up to 14. Reports indicate that two-way rookie Quinten Post’s contract is expected to be converted into a full roster spot.