Andrew Wiggins was an incredibly valuable player to the Golden State Warriors, earning an All-Star starter berth in 2022 before becoming the second-best player on a championship team later that season.
Yet Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the front office were clearly desperate for something different, giving up Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson and a top 10 protected first-round pick for Jimmy Butler in a blockbuster trade on Wednesday.
Jimmy Butler instantly brought a different look to the Warriors
Despite having played in just four NBA games since December 20, Butler was excellent in his Warrior debut on Saturday against the Chicago Bulls. The 6x All-Star had 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 17 in the second-half as the Warriors stunningly turned a 24-point deficit into a 21-point win over the final 21 minutes of the game.
Butler instantly brought a multitude of aspects the Warriors were severely lacking. Head coach Steve Kerr pointed to the swagger and confidence that the 35-year-old brings, and how that can positively impact a playing group that’s been playing at a .500 level so far this season.
But from a more tangible basketball perspective, Butler gives the Warriors an inside scoring and foul-drawing ability the franchise desperately lacked, particularly in the absence of fourth-year forward Jonathan Kuminga over the past month.
Butler set a record for most made free-throws in a Golden State debut on Saturday, going 11-of-13 at the line in a welcome sight for a franchise that entered the game 27th in free-throw attempts and 30th in percentage.
While Butler was doing his work on the inside, Stephen Curry did his work on the outside with eight threes on his way to a game-high 34 points — 24 of which came in a blistering third-quarter that turned the game on its head.
Both players spoke of the balance the other provides in Golden State’s newest scoring tandem, making for a far more dangerous offense that’s been lagging as one of the worst in the league over the last 30 games.
“He’s like the exact opposite player of me,” Curry said. (via Anthony Slater). “I took 16 threes and he shot one. He got to the free throw line a lot, dominated the paint. I dominate the perimeter. It has the potential to be really fun.”
In 342 combined regular season and playoff games with the franchise, Andrew Wiggins most made free-throws was 10. Butler has already surpassed that in one game, and while that’s in no way dismissing who Wiggins is as a player, it does got to show the difference and exactly why Dunleavy and the front office were interested in bringing the former Heat star into the organization.
Whether the Curry-Butler combination takes the Warriors far remains to be seen, but Saturday’s first outing brought some much needed optimism for a team that should only get better once Kuminga returns in the imminent future.
