How Jimmy Butler’s Drama-Ending Warriors Trade Impacts Celtics

The Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors finalized the swap everyone saw coming as the Jimmy Butler drama reached its long-awaited end Wednesday night, following an ugly multi-month pre-breakup.

Golden State and Miami led a five-team trade, per ESPN’s Shams Charania, involving the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz and Toronto Raptors, which made Butler the newest member of the Warriors. Butler immediately agreed to a two-year, $121 million extension to secure the 35-year-old’s place in Golden State and crack open its contention window.

Kevin Durant was another floated trade candidate, but that never came into fruition so Golden State had to settle. But while Butler-to-the Warriors doesn’t live up to the hype of what Durant’s reunion with Stephen Curry would’ve, it doesn’t diminish the impact on the Boston Celtics and their championship defense moving forward.

Sure, Butler, a Celtics playoff enemy who’s prevented them from reaching the NBA Finals twice in the past five years, is gone. Boston doesn’t have to worry about Butler and the underdog Erik Spoelstra cast concocting their upset scheme any longer. Miami, the current No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, is doomed for a collapse and the franchise’s future looks as bleak as this season.

The end of Butler’s Miami chapter signaled the end of an era.

Heat president Pat Riley can no longer cut corners in the team’s roster construction and Spoelstra can’t rely on just sneaking into the playoffs and seeing where things go. That’s not gonna be enough, especially with Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro leading the franchise moving forward.

It’s not worthy of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Brad Stevens sharing a celebratory glass of champagne on their off-day, but it does take down a conference rival. Miami was a fringe threat at the very most with Butler, so now without the six-time All-Star’s services the Heat aren’t even worth a glance in the standings.

The Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, and Philadelphia 76ers are among those not expected to make any drastic roster changes within the next 24 hours, and each trail Miami within four games. Butler’s exit should open the door for Orlando, Atlanta or even Philadelphia with all of its issues, to capitalize on a second-half revival bid.

In the Western Conference, however, Butler’s trade should provide a different impact.

Golden State, the No. 10 seed at 25-24, has been hanging on for dear life as the season approaches the All-Star break. Less than three weeks ago, the Celtics destroyed the Warriors, 125-85, and put all of Golden State’s issues on full display — the team’s lack of size and inability to support Curry.

Curry, night after night, is left dead stranded in double and triple-team coverages with no sidekick to defer to. Draymond Green’s physical prescence, best utilized for a contending season, has gone useless and head coach Steve Kerr is left cluesless with a clipboard of confusion on the sidelines. Without a reliable secondary scoring option, Curry’s effectiveness is limited and the 36-year-old’s 22.1-point average and 39.5% 3-point shooting rate both resemble that inital roster flaw.

Butler, who’s averaged 17 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists on 54% shooting from the floor, changes that. Curry now has a No. 2 with title-chasing experience, hunger and the trackrecord of having filled the top-dog role. So, the Warriors aren’t to be counted out and erased from the contender’s list just yet.

Golden State now has the opportunity to gain some valuable ground and give those in the West a run for their money. It’s no longer just a Houston Rockets-Memphis Grizzlies-ruled conference, now with Butler a member of the Warriors and Luka Doncic a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Since the Cetics and Warriors have completed their two-game regular-season series, the only chance Boston has in seeing Butler face-to-face in a Golden State uniform would be come June in the 2025 Finals.