Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
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What happened on trade deadline day?
Welcome to the NBA Daily. It's trade deadline day. So we got Sam Amick to break down all the big moves from the last 24 hours and the fallout ramifications. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena. Good morning, Sam. Although it's afternoon, let me not pretend like we're not talking right after the trade deadline. This is probably going to go out pretty fast. This is an emergency podcast. We just finished the live stream. If you caught us there, thanks for hanging out with us all day. It was a pretty good time. Sam, I know you're the busiest guy on the planet right now, so let's jump right in. Jimmy Butler, he's now a warrior. We thought he was going to go to Phoenix. That didn't work out. How did this happen?
Guys, thanks for having me. I think you're as busy as I am. I just saw you on the live stream and now you're on the pod. So appreciate you joining me here. I mean, listen, it's funny if you go back a couple of weeks on the Jimmy Butler front. Myself, Marcus Thompson, Anthony Slater had detailed in a story how the Warriors. seemingly did not have interest in Jimmy Butler. And we had information and insight from top to bottom. You're talking ownership, front office players. There were certainly people in the building who thought it might be a good idea, but really in Warriors world, as Zena knows really well, where the prominent voices there matter so much. The early signaling was we do need help, but it was so messy in Miami with Jimmy, there was some reservation about him being the perfect guy. Now fast forward to the trade deadline getting closer and closer, the Warriors' pursuit of Kevin Durant and that possible reunion that honestly two nights ago I went to bed thinking, man, I think this is going to happen.
How did Jimmy Butler end up with the Warriors?
And that obviously played a big part here. It showed a couple of things. It showed the level of desperation with the Warriors because they knew at that time that Kevin wasn't going to be thrilled about coming back. Now, they were willing to do the deal with a certain level of discomfort. And as we reported yesterday, I think it was, the Suns had interest in Draymond, for example. And there were some folks talking about how, man, would the Warriors think about – maybe even moving Draymond to relieve pressure from those dynamics to make Kevin more comfortable to come to the Warriors. That's the kind of stuff they were looking at. But when Kevin decided clearly to broadcast the level of disinterest and discontent that would be there if he went to the Warriors, that was a game changer because the level of uncomfortableness went up for the Warriors. They had to then figure out, okay –
That option that had all that history and basketball-wise, obviously, you would just put Kevin right in and get back to doing what they did a few years ago. That's off the table. Then they turned to Jimmy. And really, it's, I think, a win-win for both sides. I still think Jimmy Butler is one of the best players on the planet. Take all the drama away. He's an incredible ballplayer who, honestly, if you talk about making the most of your talents, he's on my short list all time. For sure. And the Warriors... Give him this extension that really is one additional year because he declines the option for next year, has a year after that. So you are talking about two and a half years potentially.
What was the Warriors' strategy regarding Kevin Durant?
You know, that's the contract relationship where we're going to see what what Steph and Draymond and Jimmy can do. But it was a pretty interesting path to get there.
Now, we talked to Marcus Thompson a little bit about this on the live stream today. And I asked him about the timeline because you bring in Jimmy Butler at 35 years old. You're paying him $60 million a year about to make a move now. But at the same time, you're keeping a young core in Jonathan Kaminga, Moses Moody, Brandon Pajemski, Trey Jackson Davis, Quentin Post. I mean, the list goes on. It does seem as if... The priority doesn't seem to be clear between this team. Are we trying to win now and take advantage of the star power that is left in Steph Curry and pair him with a big time score in Jimmy Butler right now?
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What happened on trade deadline day?
0:04–2:03
2
How did Jimmy Butler end up with the Warriors?
2:03–3:41
3
What was the Warriors' strategy regarding Kevin Durant?
3:41–7:35
4
Why were the Suns considering trading Kevin Durant?
7:35–12:04
5
What trades did the Lakers make during the deadline?
12:04–12:51
6
How will Luka Doncic and Mark Williams fit into the Lakers' plans?
12:51–26:30