JIMMY BUTLER WITH DRAYMOND GREEN MEANS A SMACKDOWN BY ST. PATRICK’S DAY
Stephen Curry has accomplished too much to play with two problem children, and while Green is making nice after the signing of Butler to a $121 million deal, why have faith in the reckless Warriors?
Valentine’s Day will be safe, I’m guessing. Draymond Green won’t heave a punch quite yet, in the whopper style that smacked down Jordan Poole, when Jimmy Butler inevitably erupts during a game or at practice. But can we say the same about St. Patrick’s Day?
And certainly not the playoffs, if an impending UFC brawl somehow extends that far.
For the Golden State Warriors to acquire Butler — or Butthead, as Pat Riley calls him — is far beneath the standards of sportsmanship and performance established by Wardell Stephen Curry. Suddenly, owner Joe Lacob was so desperate to match the LeBron-Luka marriage in Los Angeles that he buckled to the NBA’s ongoing problem child. With four crashes in a cratered career — Miami, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Chicago — Butler created so much controversy and so many distractions that it’s stunning any team wanted him.
Here come the Warriors, still stuck on the four championships they won through 2022. In his mind, Lacob thinks Butler will behave when Green could stuff him in Mission Bay with an act of hatred. In his mind, Lacob thinks Butler will respect coach Steve Kerr when he just tromped over Riley and Erik Spoelstra. In his mind, Lacob thinks Curry will pacify Butler with his “Night, Night” celebrations and three-point blitzes.
He even gave Butler a $121 million extension for two seasons that keeps him in San Francisco through the 2026-27 season. Say so long to Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson, who head to Miami with a protected 2025 first-round draft pick, and Dennis Schroder, who bounced to Utah in a three-way trade. The Warriors hold onto Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield and Brandin Podziemski to form a curious squad. And they’re playing Thursday night in Los Angeles as Luka Doncic waits to make his debut, all while the Lakers acquired 7-foot center Mark Williams, a lob threat who scores and rebounds … and plays no defense and misses more games than he plays.
But if the Lakers have some sort of chance, the Golden State scheme won’t work. If Butler made mincemeat of the Heat Culture, what will he do to the Curry festival? The Warriors once succeeded because Curry transformed basketball and Green played his defensive game with dirtball tactics. How will Butler fit in with a 25-25 team locked into 11th place in the Western Conference? When Curry texted him at halftime of a loss in Utah, Butler forwarded a “pleasant message.”
“I know there was a lot of drama down there,” Curry said of Miami. “Who really knows what the story is? We expect to have a motivated, committed Jimmy. … You get into a situation where it’s a fresh start. It establishes an expectation that we’re used to: We need to win. Doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy and we’re not going to be challenged.
“The biggest thing is it creates expectations, which I love. I want to be in that kind of environment — whether you get it done or not, that is meaningful basketball, and we all love and thrive on that. I think we’ll be up for the challenge.”
For now, Green has a new partner. How will he co-exist after bombarding players for years, including teammates? We’ll see. “We know our pedigree is to win championships. Jimmy hasn’t quite gotten over the hump, but he’s been right there,” he said. “He’s got a winning f—ing pedigree, and we’re excited about that. He brings an edge, a mentality this team needs and obviously a skill set.”
How will Butler mesh? “We win, all three of us,” Green said.
He will provide defense with Green, who said, “It’s definitely going to give us a boost defensively. Not only is Jimmy a good on-ball defender, he’s also a great off-ball defender. He brings a lot of physicality to the game on both sides of the ball. And he gets buckets.”
Offensively? “It will look different than what we are used to,” Curry said. “He can play, I’m sure, a little bit of motion. But he’s a shot creator, a finisher. I’m going to watch a lot of Miami film to see some of the sets they like to run for him.”
Butler? He posted something from a song: “welcome to the wild wild west” — which is followed by “the dogs don’t sleep and the sun don’t set.”
At least Kevin Durant would have excelled as a scorer and a Curry cog, having won two championships in Golden State. But he wanted no part of a return. He would have dealt again with Green, who made Durant’s life hell when he called him a “bitch’’ in a heated game argument and forced him to leave for Brooklyn, Phoenix and Who Knows Where Else. “It was time for all of us to separate,” said Durant, who has not contended since leaving in 2019.
There was no reason to reconfigure.
So, Butler arrives with a new contract but remains capable of any mess. Doesn’t he contrive one everywhere he goes? He was suspended three times by Riley, who saw him miss a team flight and leave a practice early. He didn’t receive an extension after missing around 25 percent of Heat games in six seasons. “There was a lot said by everybody, except for me, to tell you the truth,” Butler said. "We'll let people keep talking. ... The whole truth will come out.”
The truth is what? Jimmy is a clown? Kerr was left to wish the best for Wiggins, who helped the Warriors win three years ago. “Wiggs is one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached,” he said. “Just a beautiful soul, a wonderful human being. We don’t hang that banner in ’22 without him, everything he brings every single day — the laughter, the smile, the joy. So I’m going to miss him.”
Kerr chose not to speak of the trade because it wasn’t official. He did ask the NBA office to move the deadline to the All-Star break. “Just so you don't have to face these games where guys are getting traded half an hour before a game and you're trying to process the emotions and trying to win a game,” he said. “I don't know if it's possible, but it would be great if we could move it back and make the last couple of days before the deadline off days. I don't know how to do it, but these are tough days for sure.”
Before the game, Kerr pleaded for Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. to maintain poise. He said it before heading to the court and telling Wiggins he was headed to Miami, not an easy chore. “Feel the exact same way: Don't do anything crazy,” Kerr said. “We are not in that position. I think it is important for every organization to know where they are and understand the circumstances and then you see the possibilities. Draymond, Steph and I have talked about this privately. We have talked about this with Mike. There is a responsibility to the organization to do the right thing and to not beg for some crazy trade that is going to put the next 10 years in jeopardy.”
The trade wasn’t too crazy. The $121 million wasn’t too nuts.
But they’re bringing in Jimmy Butler, who should duck.
###
Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.