The Golden State Warriors made the second most consequential move of the NBA trade deadline, swapping spare parts and a couple first-round picks for Miami Heat malcontent Jimmy Butler. It has been an immensely impactful addition so far.
Butler isn't what he once was, but the Dubs are 23-8 with him in the lineup. More than his individual talent, the ways Butler complements and elevates Golden State's core are profound. Stephen Curry is playing off-ball more. Draymond Green has a sharp-witted wing defender flanking him in the middle. Golden State's gaggle of role players are receiving far more open looks as defenses collapse on Butler drives.
This is essentially the first time we've seen this Warriors core with a player like Butler. He's not a high-volume shooter, as is the traditional mold for a Steve Kerr superstar, but he's incredibly proficient inside the arc. Butler gets downhill, pressures the rim, and gives the Dubs another halfcourt creator to remove weight from Curry's shoulders. It helps that he is a proven postseason performer.
In the No. 7 seed, Golden State still needs to get through a treacherous Play-In bracket before getting their shot at the Western Conference elites. Depending on how the bracket falls, however, the Dubs feel like a team capable of doing on a deep run. The Houston Rockets in that No. 2 seed are far from immortal.
Still, one can't help but look back at the Warriors' trade deadline and wonder what could have been.
Subscribe to The Whiteboard, FanSided’s daily email newsletter on everything basketball. If you like The Whiteboard, share it with a friend! If you don’t like The Whiteboard, share it with an enemy!
Warriors missed golden opportunity to trade Jonathan Kuminga before his contract expires
After plenty of rumors connecting Jonathan Kuminga to various trade destinations in the offseason — LA for Paul George, Utah for Lauri Markkanen, even Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns — the Dubs opted to keep the former No. 7 pick around. Golden State's faith in Kuminga has been largely unshakable, even as he struggles to get a foothold in Kerr's rotation.
The hope was that Kuminga would make his oft-teased leap to stardom this season. That he would finally break free of Kerr's doghouse and earn a consistent workload for a Dubs team in need of athletic wing scorers like him.
Instead, Kuminga has been on the opposite arc. Especially after the Butler trade, which made his scoring a bit more redundant. The 22-year-old logged a DNP-coach's decision in Golden State's season finale, a game the Warriors needed to win for seeding purposes. Kerr didn't even tell Kuminga ahead of time.
There is well-documented tension between Kerr and Kuminga over the years. He just does not fit the Warriors brand of basketball. A restricted free agent this summer, there's a decent chance Kuminga's market price exceeds what Golden State is comfortable paying. So, rather than trading him at peak value for a star (or even for a more dependable role player at the deadline), Golden State risks losing him for nothing after a disappointing four-year stint. He certainly won't help their championship odds at this rate.
Getting Butler without sacrificing Kuminga was a nice piece of business from Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the Warriors front office, but Golden State should've doubled down and seen what other upgrades were available, rather than resting on their laurels with Butler and Kuminga.