NBA Rumors: There's one big reason that the Golden State Warriors are sitting out the Jimmy Butler trade sweepstakes.
Since winning the 2022 NBA Championship, the Golden State Warriors have slowly taken some pretty big steps back as a team. It all culminated with missing the playoffs last season. While the Warriors have shown some improving signs at times this year, Golden State is currently sitting outside the top 10 in the Western Conference standings and is in grave danger of missing the postseason for a second straight season.
In theory, you'd expect the Warriors to head into the NBA Trade Deadline with the urgency to make a move to help strengthen this team's chances of making a move up the West standings. However, it's been reported that the Warriors are in no hurry to make a rash move. In fact, with Jimmy Butler on the trade block, a player who would theoretically fit the team's championship window, the Warriors have oddly been silent. According to a recent report or speculation, there's one very big (and bold) reason why Golden State doesn't have much interest in trading for Jimmy.
Per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, the reason why the Warriors are not willing to trade for Jimmy is because they're saving as many assets as they can for a potential pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo or another franchise-changing star player that may come available during the offseason.
Are the Golden State Warriors making a mistake?
While this line of thinking could make sense for the Warriors as a franchise, I'm not sure if does make a ton of sense for Steph Curry. At this point in his career, the time for being patient is over. If Curry wants to put himself in a position to win another championship, I'm not sure it's the best plan of action to simply wait for a superstar to become disgruntled.
This is the same mindset that burned the Miami Heat with Jimmy Butler. At a certain point, a team has to be aggressive if it wants to surround its aging stars with a championship-supporting cast. The Warriors could be making a massive misstep in their relationship with Curry. If this is the plan, Curry's patience with the Warriors will certainly be tested.
And, hey, maybe Curry knows the Warriors' approach heading into the trade deadline and then into the offseason. Perhaps Curry is on board. If that is the case, then that's amazing for the Warriors. But if it isn't, it will be interesting to see what lies ahead for both Curry and the franchise heading into the offseason (assuming the team stands pat at the trade deadline).