Scenario 3: The Warriors get desperate
The Warriors tried and failed to land Lauri Markkanen this summer, but the front office is clearly motivated to improve the team and maximize Steph Curry’s championship window.
Butler is an ideal theoretical co-star. His two-way ability and bruising style of play the yin to Curry’s yang.
According to The Athletic, Golden State’s final offer for Markkanen centered around guard Moses Moody, multiple first-round picks, pick swaps and second-rounders. The Warriors were unwilling to include Brandin Podziemski or Jonathan Kuminga, according to those reports.
The Warriors would have had to include more salary – likely Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney – to facilitate the deal. Perhaps they could have swapped Chris Paul’s expiring contract for Wiggins if the deal had been done early enough in the offseason before Paul was waived and signed with the San Antonio Spurs.
That’s a pretty lame offer for Butler. The Heat would have likely wanted a blue-chip pick or young player back. Adding Kuminga to the mix is interesting but might not get it over the hump. The Warriors also didn’t have their own pick in this summer’s draft.
The value in this trade would have been in shorting the Warriors in the future, betting on getting lottery picks from Golden State after Curry, Butler and Draymond Green retire. But the Heat have never taken that approach to team-building before.