Golden State has a path to moving off Jimmy Butler's contract this summer, but the cost of taking it looks steeper than the reward.
Golden State has spent this offseason chasing star power, and almost every version of that chase runs through Jimmy Butler's contract.
Draymond Green opted out of his own deal to help clear cap room, and the Warriors quickly became a serious suitor for LeBron James, with Anthony Davis also mentioned as a possible trade target to pair alongside him.
Nearly every one of those scenarios only balances if Golden State moves Butler's expiring $56.8 million salary, which is exactly why his name has kept surfacing in trade rumors he has heard before.
The Price of Moving On
The Athletic's Nick Friedell recently broke down why the front office keeps landing on the same answer.
Moving off the final year of Butler's deal is possible, Friedell explained, but it would likely require "parting with at least one future first-round pick" to get a team to bite.
Picks are worth more than they used to be under the league's newer lottery odds and tighter cap rules, and giving one up just to shed money is a hard sell for a front office that has already dealt away several of its own selections.
There is a human side too, since Butler has been open about wanting to finish his career in the Bay Area, and the Warriors have reportedly told him as much in private too, assuring him last season he was not going anywhere even as his name floated around the deadline right after his knee injury.
Why He Still Fits
Golden State finished 37-45 and missed the playoffs for a second straight year, losing in the play-in round to Phoenix after knocking off the Clippers days earlier, and the record would have looked far worse without Butler's early run before the injury ended his season.
Before tearing his ACL on January 19 against Miami, he averaged 20.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists over 38 games, shooting 51.9 percent from the floor, and the Warriors went 23-15 in the games he started.
Dating back to his arrival from Miami in February 2025, Golden State is 46-22 with him in the lineup, covering nearly every good stretch this roster has had.
That combination of scoring and defense next to a 38-year-old Curry, who still averaged 26.6 points a game this past season is not easy to replace by attaching a first-round pick to Butler and hoping a new star stays healthy.
The Case for Patience
The urgency to clear room for a third star has also cooled some.
Warriors sources have reportedly grown less confident that James ends up in Golden State, with Cleveland increasingly viewed as the favorite, which takes some pressure off finding a taker for Butler's money this summer.
Butler, for his part, has been direct about it whenever the subject comes up, saying "it's good to know that I'm wanted here."
Add in that he will miss real time next season rehabbing, which limits what a rival would even offer, and running it back with him for one more year beats gambling him away for a pick and a promise.
