Sources – Butler traded from heat to fighters, to ink new deal

Jimmy Butler saga with the Miami heat ended on Wednesday night when he was traded for the Golden State Warriors as part of a multiteam -megadeeal, sources told ESPN.

Warriors closed the deal for Butler after the negotiations to acquire Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant ended when Durant informed the team that he would not return to Golden State, the sources say. Warriors, Heat and Suns had approached an agreement on a trade that would have landed Butler in Phoenix and Durant back, winning championships in 2017 and 2018.

As part of the deal, Butler will reject his $ 52 million player for next season and plans to sign a new two-year-old, $ 111 million deal that will be completing the 2026-27 season, the sources say.

Warriors send out Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson plus a top-10 protected 2025 first round pick to the heat, the sources say. Guard Dennis Schroder, acquired by Warriors in December, will also be sent to Utah Jazz. Utah sends Frem PJ Tucker, who played with the heat in 2021-22, to Miami. Guard Lindy Waters III will go from Golden State to Detroit Pistons, and Josh Richardson will go from Miami to Detroit.

Warm Forward Nikola Jovic called Butler his “brother” and said he and many of the Miami players would miss him.

“He is someone who did a lot for this franchise,” Jovic said of Butler. “He is someone who helped me so much where I’m not sure if I want to be here right now if there wasn’t him. I’m sad and happy at the same moment. Sad you don’t want to see him More but I’m really glad he got what he wanted to.

There were a number of other parameters in the agreement that the teams were still ironing Wednesday night.

The deal was agreed while the heat played against the 76s in Philadelphia, and the stamps hosted Cleveland Cavaliers. Warrior’s coach Steve Kerr called a team meeting to inform the players just before the Golden State played against jazz in Salt Lake City.

Warriors, who had been looking for another star before the deadline, now has a six-time all-star in butler to pair with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. While Wiggins was the team’s second -leading goal scorer with 17.6 points per year. Fight and one of its best defenders versus guards and bigger forward, butler should be an upgrade.

Warriors desperately need a reliable other scores to relieve pressure from curry, especially in coupling time. Butler average 20 points or more in the four seasons before this campaign. He and Green also had to form a formidable defensive duo for Kerr.

Curry said he texted the butler at the break of the Warriors jazz game and expressed his enthusiasm for getting started with Butler.

“We know who Jimmy is. Being in two finals, DHE is a winner, ”Curry said. “I understand that there is a lot of drama down there and that really knows what the story is. We expect to have a motivated, committed Jimmy who is ready to influence our team for the better.”

Wiggins reviewed his first name warming before the jazz game, but when he went back to the dressing room, he was met and baptized by an assistant coach, a warrior’s security guard and curry. When he got back to his closet, a few players went to him to shake his hand.

Minutes later, Warriors’ changing rooms were closed to the media under regular accessibility so Kerr could address the team. Players including Curry, who were on the field warming, were brought back into the dressing room for the closed door meeting.

About 15 minutes later, Kerr came up from the dressing room with his head down and Curry went back on the field to resume his warm -up.

“It’s tough,” Kerr said. “You develop these relationships with guys. They give you everything and commit to the team. They got families. Wigs just had a baby boy last week. Wigs is one of my favorite players I have ever coached. Just a beautiful soul .

A few weeks ago, Kerr and Curry said they didn’t want to see the Warriors organization make any “desperate” trades that would prioritize the team’s future in an attempt to win this season. Kerr repeated it about half an hour before approaching the team behind closed doors.

“Feel exactly the same way: Don’t do anything crazy,” Kerr said. “We are not in that position. I think it is important for any 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 (Warrior General Manager) Mike (Dunleavy Jr.).

At Kerr’s point, Warriors held on to the young views Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski, two players they were reluctant to give up last summer when Warriors explored offers for Lauri Markkanen and Paul George.

Golden State lost some of the depth that Kerr has proclaimed all season. But Warriors went into their game at Utah in 10th place at the western conference.

Meanwhile, the Blockbuster agreement ends a drawn divorce between Butler and The Heat.

Miami suspended Butler three times this season, twice for behavior harmful to the team and once after he missed a team flight. His latest suspension began on January 27, after leaving shootaround after news that he would come from the bench to Miami’s next match. The heat announced that the indefinite suspension would last at least five matches that took things up to Thursday’s deadline.

Butler has not played since January 21st.

The disputed farewell seemed to be telegraphed last season when team president Pat Riley said the heat was not planning to expand Butler this season. Butler has a history of messy outputs after previously forced out of Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves.

The heat had questioned the 35-year-old efforts at times this season. Butlers 17.0 points per Fight is the lowest of his career since his third season in the league.

His marriage to Miami seemed like a perfect mating, as Butler’s strong will attitude fits well with the “heat culture” ethos of the franchise. Over six campaigns in South Beach, Butler led the heat to the playoffs in each of its first five, with three trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and two NBA Finals performances. Butler was named two All-Star teams and played three performances on All-NBA teams as a member of HEAT.

He returns to Miami on March 25 when Warriors visit to play the heat.

“Our biggest obstacle right now that we have to get over is consistency,” Guard Tyler Herro said of the team, who found clarity with Butler’s departure. “So being able to know your role, evening in and evening, obvious without injuries is part of clarity is part of the consistency. So right now we’re just trying to get everything in line and just keep stacking good days, and we find consistency in it.

With news about the trade, Warriors’ odds of winning the NBA championship were abbreviated from +4000 to +3300, per. Espn bet. They moved from +3000 to +2000 to the Western Conference title and from +1800 to +1200 for Pacific Division Crown.

ESPNS OHM Youngmisuk contributed to this report.