The Golden State Warriors’ most recent 107-104 victory against the Detroit Pistons Thursday night improved the team’s record to 19-18, though it did plenty to remind their front office that important personnel changes need to be made.
After Golden State led by double-digits at halftime, Detroit was able to nearly make an improbable comeback in the final minutes due to the Warriors’ extremely poor perimeter defense in the fourth quarter.
If the Warriors are looking to make a deep postseason run and help Stephen Curry collect his fifth championship, their general manager Mike Dunleavy may be tempted to attain one of the best perimeter defenders in the entire NBA.
In fact, recent reports indicate that Dunleavy could throw the front offices of the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors into a conference call to work out the details of a gargantuan three-team trade where the Warriors land six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler from Miami.
“Dating back to the NBA offseason, the Golden State Warriors have been linked to Jimmy Butler,” wrote Athlon Sports’ Jonah Kubicek on Monday afternoon.
“As a premier two-way player, there is no doubt that he would make the Warriors better, and his recent trade request just added fuel to the rumor fire.”
“However, due to the Miami Heat’s unrealistic wish for financial flexibility, a deal sending Butler to the Warriors seems incredibly unlikely. That is, unless the Warriors can get a third team involved. In an effort to get younger and speed up their rebuild, the Raptors could get involved in a deal, taking on salary to ensure that the Heat don’t have to commit to anyone past this season.”
In a recently proposed trade, Golden State would land the Heat’s disgruntled six-time All-Star to return Curry and former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green back to title contention.
In exchange, the Warriors would part with Dennis Schröder as well as NBA champion Gary Payton II. Miami would receive both players along with another title-winning guard in the form of Toronto’s Bruce Brown Jr. and draft capital.
For Toronto, they’d participate in the deal to land Canadian All-Star forward Andrew Wiggins and Gui Santos.
In a potential deal for Butler, Golden State would instantly be propelled back into discussions of which team will come out of the Western Conference.
At 35 years old, Butler is averaging 17.6 points on a career-best 55.2% shooting from the floor paired with 1.2 steals.
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