{"id":116898,"date":"2025-01-08T17:05:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=116898"},"modified":"2025-01-08T17:05:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:05:30","slug":"warriors-big-man-trade-best-move-not-jimmy-butler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/08\/warriors-big-man-trade-best-move-not-jimmy-butler\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors Prioritizing Big Man Over Jimmy Butler Is The Best Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler<\/a> began having problems, the Golden State Warriors have been mentioned as one of the teams that are willing to give<\/a> the six-time All-Star the contract that he desires. With Butler and the Heat now preparing to sign their divorce players<\/a>, the Warriors are now in prime position to catch him on the rebound. However, recent rumors suggest that Golden State is pursuing a big man<\/a> rather than Butler.<\/p>\n

If so, that makes sense on several levels.<\/p>\n

Warriors Prioritizing Big Man Over Jimmy Butler Is The Best Move<\/h2>\n

The immediate concern with acquiring Butler is what they would have to give up in order to get him. At this point, the Heat’s preferred package likely includes both Andrew Wiggins<\/a> and Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a vacuum, Butler is better than either player. Yet, stylistically, Wiggins makes more sense for the Warriors. Once a player who loved the midrange, he’s bought into an analytics-influenced shot diet of 3s and layups. That isn’t the case for Kuminga but he’s still 13 years younger than Butler and makes his presence felt at both ends.<\/p>\n

Secondly, Butler could still leave in the offseason<\/a>, as he has a player option for the 2025-26 season. Obviously, there could be a handshake agreement or extend-and-trade scenario that confirmed his long-term commitment to Golden State. However, Butler’s disenchantment with the Heat could lead to reservations about making those types of promises, especially before he’s even played a game for them. Conversely, the Warriors’ experiences with Chris Paul<\/a> and Dennis Schroder<\/a> could cause hesitation on their side. Those are their two biggest trade acquisitions since Mike Dunleavy Jr. took the reins from Bob Myers and neither were great fits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Sticky Situation<\/h3>\n

Lastly, Golden State’s issue isn’t necessarily that they have a weak point on the roster. They have several guards, multiple forwards, a couple of 3-and-D wings and two starting-caliber centers. One could argue that there isn’t enough top-end talent on the team. Yet, they have Stephen Curry<\/a> playing alongside multiple lottery picks.<\/p>\n

Wiggins was a No. 1 pick. Kuminga was a top-10 pick. Moses Moody<\/a> was a lottery pick. None of them are busts, they’re just not being empowered enough. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr must have gotten a doctoral degree in lip service because that’s all he’s really been giving them. Instead of truly trying to evolve, he wants to stick to a system that they haven’t dominated with this entire decade.<\/p>\n

If or when Butler arrives, would he even be allowed to play his game?<\/p>\n

Front & Center<\/h3>\n

With that in mind, if their trade target is<\/a> indeed Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic<\/a>, they could use him as a stretch-five. This actually enhances their efficacy by making it more viable to play their best players, a group that includes Kuminga, together.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum are big men who are more traditional. Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler<\/a>, Portland Trail Blazers center Robert Williams III<\/a>, and Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela<\/a> all fit the bill here. Though these rim-runners don’t simplify the offense, they do give the Warriors more of a shot-blocking presence.<\/p>\n

The ideal targets for Golden State could be Jazz forward-center John Collins<\/a> and Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl<\/a>. In Collins, they would get a big man who could score from all three levels and make a defensive impact. He’s also 27 years old, so he’s just now entering his prime. Now, unlike Collins, Poeltl isn’t thought to be available. However, he has an offensive skillset that’s similar to their current centers but is a much better rim-protector. As a result, he might have a pretty smooth transition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler began having problems, the Golden State Warriors have been mentioned as one of the teams that are willing to give the six-time All-Star the contract that he desires. With Butler and the Heat now preparing to sign their divorce players, the Warriors are now in prime position […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":116911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4,1608,8,16,62,23,14,4721,24],"tags":[968,142,998,474,528,4513],"class_list":["post-116898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-warriors","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-heat","category-nba","category-trailblazers","category-raptors","category-trade-rumors","category-jazz","tag-jakob-poeltl","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-john-collins","tag-nikola-vucevic","tag-steve-kerr","tag-walker-kessler"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116912,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116898\/revisions\/116912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}