Following their 114-98 home loss to the Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat on Tuesday, there was reported tension inside the Golden State Warriors’ front office. According to NBA insider Sam Amick, however, the Warriors have no plan to trade for Butler, who has recently expressed his discontent with his team.
After months of speculation about his disgruntlement, the six-time NBA All-Star has ultimately expressed his desire to be traded on the second day of the new year. The following day, the Heat front office suspended him for seven games citing “multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team” amid his attempts to get traded.
Despite struggling due to Butler’s absence, the Heat still managed to subdue the Warriors, one of the rumored teams interested in acquiring their star forward. Following their 16-point loss, Warriors coach Steve Kerr called out his players for their “personnel-based” below-average layup and free-throw shooting percentages, saying that those were a problem even for their team GM Mike Dunleavy Jr.
According to Amick, Dunleavy and Golden State owner Joe Lacob had a rather “spicy” meeting following the loss, saying that onlookers could “feel the frustration from the group.” Regardless, the insider said that the Warriors are not interested in giving Jimmy Butler the maximum contract extension he desires, not wanting to risk trading for the 14-year pro with a $52.4 million player option for next season.
“They don’t have interest in giving him the deal that he’s waiting for on the other end,” Amick said on Thursday’s episode of FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back.”
“And I don’t think they’re looking to make him a rental and have it be a strained relationship with him coming to town if they somehow were able to get him, in spite of the fact that they don’t want to do a max extension,” the insider added.
Steph Curry needs help on the Warriors, but it (probably) won’t come from Jimmy Butler ❌ pic.twitter.com/gKsuEDBQt7
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) January 9, 2025
Warriors won’t trade Jonathan Kuminga for Jimmy Butler
In Sam Amick’s report on Thursday, he added that the Golden State Warriors are currently content with their wing rotation, hence why they are not aggressively pursuing Heat forward Jimmy Butler. The insider also added that the Warriors are reluctant to trade Jonathan Kuminga, who is currently out of action due to a right ankle sprain.
“Their reasoning for not going after Jimmy, even beyond the money, is that, to this point, they’ve been pretty happy with Andrew Wiggins’ play, and the idea of also giving up a Jonathan Kuminga in that deal, even though he’s hurt right now, is something they weren’t looking to do,” Amick said.
While his production on the court has been somewhat inconsistent, Kuminga has shown flashes of becoming a dependable secondary scoring option for the Warriors behind their star point guard Steph Curry. In the 32 games he has played so far, the Warriors forward is the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 16.8 points per game.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
