Six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler believes he has his “joy back” after completing a trade to the Golden State Warriors from the Miami Heat.
The 35-year-old was suspended three times by the Heat in 2025 for behavioural difficulties, including “conduct detrimental to the team”, missing a flight and walking out of a team practice.
The Heat stated that they will consider trade proposals for Butler, who hasn’t played since January 21, during those suspensions. In exchange for Butler, the Heat receive Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, and a 2025 protected first-round draft pick from the Warriors.
“All of that is behind me, moving forward,” Butler responded when questioned about the rumors that have been swirling about him for the past month.
“I’m glad to be present. Being needed again makes me joyful. I also feel like I’m [about to] make a major comeback.
So I’m grinning. “I’ve been training, working hard, and doing all that I should be doing. I am aware that my joy has returned. I’m among a new bunch of guys and in a different situation.”
Butler has made it apparent that he wants to win the championship, even though he hasn’t yet. Butler declared, “I would like to say that I am a winner,” “Even though I haven’t won “it,” I consider myself a winner. The goal is to win ‘it’, which is a championship.
According to ESPN, Butler inked a two-year contract worth $111 million (£90 million) with the Warriors after rumors surfaced that he intended to join the Phoenix Suns. Butler hopes to play his first game with the Warriors on Saturday (Sunday at 1:00 GMT) against the Chicago Bulls.
“He is a big-time pressure player, post-season player,” stated Steve Kerr, the coach of the Warriors. That would be a good fit for our locker room, then. There are other men among us who have experienced the war and its hardships.
“So, I believe that when you put a group of individuals like that together, there will be a belief and a confidence that goes along with it. Therefore, I’m eager to watch how that turns out.”
Butler will join two-time MVP and 11-time NBA All-Star Stephen Curry, who has stated that he will review Heat tape to assess if Butler’s style of play fits the Warriors.
“We good,” Butler responded when asked about it. Give Steph the ball. And move aside. Simple.”
Dennis Schroder was also involved in the Butler deal, but on Thursday, he ended up joining three separate clubs.
The 31-year-old was traded to the Warriors in December after beginning the NBA season with the Brooklyn Nets.
But after being traded for Butler, he first played for the Miami Heat before being traded to the Utah Jazz and then the Detroit Pistons.
Having only joined the Nets in February of last year, Schroder has played in 814 NBA games and has been traded five times in the last 12 months.
According to a post on X, published by ESPN writer Marc J. Spears, Schroder warmed up with the Warriors before their matchup with the LA Lakers, but he was “pulled out of the shower” to be traded again.
On Tuesday, Schroder compared the trade system and deadline in NBA to “modern slavery”.”It’s modern slavery at the end of the day,” Schroder told NBC Sports, external.”
Everybody can decide where you’re going, even if you have a contract.
“Yeah, of course, we make a lot of money and we can feed our families, but at the end of the day if they say, ‘you’re not coming to work tomorrow, you’re going over there’, they can decide that. They got to change that a little bit.”
Before the Warriors’ game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Butler and general Michael Joseph Dunleavy Jr. were unveiled.
LeBron James scored 42 points to become one of just two 40-year-olds to score more than 40 points in an NBA game, joining Michael Jordan, but the Warriors defeated 120–112.
Four days after turning forty, Jordan scored forty-three points for the Washington Wizards in a 2003 game against the New Jersey Nets.
James led the Lakers to their fourth consecutive victory and their tenth in their last twelve games with a season-high 17 rebounds, eight assists, and six three-pointers. The Warriors are in eleventh place in the Western Conference, while the Lakers are in fifth.
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