The Warriors will acquire Jimmy Butler from the Heat in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schröder, Kyle Anderson and a protected first-round pick, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Pistons are also involved in the trade and will receive Lindy Waters III from Golden State and Josh Richardson from Miami, Charania tweets.
The Jazz will play a role as well, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), who hears that Miami doesn’t plan to hold on to Schröder. Charania confirms that Schröder will head to Utah.
A plan to have Anderson go to the Raptors has fallen through, sources tell Charania (Twitter link). Miami is working to see if it can find another team to take on Anderson’s $8.78 salary and the two years left on his contract.
P.J. Tucker, whom the Jazz acquired over the weekend, is also headed to Miami, sources tell Charania (Twitter link). Tucker played for the Heat during the 2021/22 season.
Charania reports that Butler has agreed to a two-year, $111MM extension with the Warriors that will run through the 2026/27 season. He will decline his $48.8MM player option for next season.
An inability to work out an extension is the major reason that Butler was unhappy in Miami. He has been suspended three times over the past month and was away from the team as the front office tried to find an acceptable offer before Thursday’s deadline. Butler had requested a trade in hopes of going to a team that was willing to make a long-term commitment.
Under the extension, Butler will earn $54,126,450 next season and $56,832,773 in 2026/27, according to salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link). Gozlan notes that adding Butler ensures that the Warriors will continue to have a large payroll, and they’ll be deep in luxury tax territory if they re-sign restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga. Butler has a $407,123 trade bonus that will increase his current salary to $49.2MM, Gozlan adds.
The Heat were able to duck beneath the tax threshold if they can find a taker for Anderson’s contract. They will escape what would have been a $23.8MM tax penalty and create an $11MM trade exception, according to Gozlan.
More to come …