Just because the Warriors aren’t going to the Western Conference Finals, much less the NBA Finals, doesn’t mean the Jimmy Butler trade didn’t work.
Just as the team’s inability to make the playoffs outright or beat the Rockets in anything less than seven games cannot be viewed as a failure, either.
Frustration? Fair game.
Annoyance? Absolutely.
But it’s simply not a failure.
You can want more, even expect more from these Dubs while still acknowledging that the outcome of this season was a success.
It’s easy to forget, so let’s collectively remember the alternative: Were Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Dennis Schröder, or Lindy Waters going to take the Warriors further than Butler this season? What about next year or the year after that?
Is that 2025 first-round draft pick — No. 20 overall — going to help Steph Curry win ring No. 5?
Of course not.
Had the Warriors gone full Phoenix Suns or Milwaukee Bucks and pushed all their chips into the middle of the table, only to finish in the middle of the table, there would be ample reasons to complain and fret.
But Butler cost next to nothing. The Heat certainly didn’t extract his full value by waiting until the NBA’s trade deadline to move him. The Warriors gave up no young players of worth — not even Quentin Post — and only one first-round draft pick in the trade. Did you even know the Warriors once had a first-round draft pick this season?
The Golden State Warriors bench, from left to right, Warriors’ Buddy Hield (7), Warriors’ Brandin Podziemski (2), Warriors’ Jimmy Butler III (10) and Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) watch the final minutes of their loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round NBA Playoffs at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, May 12, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
In return, the Warriors received Butler and hope.
Yes, it seems so distant now, but hope was floating around for a while, wasn’t it?
And that alone is worth a celebration.
Hypothetical championships are the worst kind. So let me ask you this: Would you have liked the Dubs’ chances against Minnesota with a healthy Steph Curry?
What about with a healthy Butler?
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I’d take one of the two.
And while I still believe Oklahoma City would run the Dubs off the court, perhaps it won’t be the Thunder awaiting the winner of this series in the West Finals. I sure like the Warriors’ matchup with the Nuggets a lot better.
And the East champions — the Knicks or the Pacers? Would the Warriors have even needed six games against either?
Yes, this is ridiculous extrapolation that’s wholly unfair to the Timberwolves, who deserve every bit of their success in this second-round series. But don’t pretend as if I’m the only one to game it all out.
The fact that you can easily imagine the Warriors winning a title this season, albeit under the kind of conditions that rarely ever align in the NBA, speaks volumes to the quality of the deal Golden State made.
All that frustration and annoyance following Game 4, while valid, only exist because you could have reasonably expected better.
With the old, pre-Jimmy roster, I wonder if the Dubs make the play-in tournament, much less escape from it. They’re losing to the Rockets (or whomever) in the first round, too. (Remember Butler’s Game 4?)
A year of Curry’s seemingly never-ending prime is wasted without even the suggestion of the alternative.
Jimmy Butler III #10 of the Golden State Warriors is fouled by Amen Thompson #1 of the Houston Rockets in the first half in Game Two of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on April 23, 2025 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX ***
At least under these circumstances, injury can be blamed. It’s a missed opportunity (perhaps the last great one, to be fair), not a blown one.
This might all be too semantical, so I’ll ask you this:
What did they sell for this legitimate shot at a title? Certainly not their soul or the franchise’s beloved “optionality.” The Warriors still have a boatload of first-round draft picks (2026-2029, 2031), a decent enough slate of young players, and the ability to sign-and-trade Jonathan Kuminga. This team still has enough to make an all-in move this offseason should the circumstance present itself.
Signing Butler to a contract extension — even as big as it is — didn’t change that.
For what it’s worth, I hear big buck hunting has moved from the fall to the summer this year. While the Dubs shouldn’t be the favorites to make that big, fat Greek move, they’re at least in the ballgame.
And that’s what they were after they added Butler — they just wanted to be in the ballgame for a title.
Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way. Or, more specifically, sometimes you fall on your butt really hard or you tweak your hamstring making a really hard jab step.
The Warriors’ stars are old. Injuries happen to older players.
But the risk was always worth the reward, and amid a soon-to-be-season-ending defeat, the situation is hardly dire.
The entire history of the NBA changed on Tuesday night. The Dallas Mavericks’ franchise was effectively saved by a long-shot NBA draft lottery win and the ability to pick Cooper Flagg No. 1 overall in June.
The Celtics, as we know them, might have played their final game following Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury. (An injury like that, at 27 years old, is a much tougher pill to swallow, no?)
And it’s fair to wonder if the Warriors’ future changed, irrevocably, with their Game 4 loss and 3-1 series deficit Monday.
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The Dubs could decide to stay the course — give a full season with Butler and Curry a swing. Perhaps Draymond Green is along for the ride, too.
I’m guessing that would be good enough to be in the mix once again in 2025-26.
But the Warriors might view their situation and decide to shake things up even further this offseason.
Either way, the goal is the same: Win a title.
The mere suggestion of such a result for the Dubs was fanciful a few months ago. The standard had dipped.
But it’s back now, and amid all this frustration, anguish, and annoyance, that’s a change worth its weight in gold.
Golden State Warriors guard Buddy Hield (7), left, and forward Jimmy Butler (10) hug after Game 1 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)