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Jimmy Butler’s future with the Golden State Warriors is an intriguing offseason storyline that many should follow.
Butler, who’s only five months removed from a major ACL injury, is an asset that regularly appears in trade ideas/proposals, and it isn’t surprising in the slightest. If the Warriors want to swing a blockbuster trade this summer, making Butler available is the best way to pull it off.
In a thought-provoking trade concept crafted by Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes, the Warriors would use Butler and his two-year, $110 million contract to land an overpaid Philadelphia 76ers star forward.
“Jimmy Butler tore his ACL this past January and might not play again until after the calendar flips to 2027, but it'd almost certainly be a good sign for the Philadelphia 76ers if he returned for a second tour of duty,” Hughes wrote Sunday.
“That's because Butler would only wind up in Philly as matching salary in a trade that offloaded either Paul George or Joel Embiid on the Golden State Warriors. And while Butler might only provide half a season's worth of production as he tries to rehab his value ahead of free agency, that'd still be preferable to dealing with the remaining years and dollars on the Sixers' two highest-paid players' contracts.”
“Not only that, but it's likely Philadelphia could get some draft compensation attached to Butler in a deal for George. If Embiid is the outgoing salary, that might be tougher to achieve. Either way, turning one of those two into Butler's expiring deal would allow the Sixers to unload a metric ton of bad salary.”
George inked a four-year, $211 million contract with the 76ers in 2024 following a five-year stint with the Los Angeles Clippers. At the time, many argued that the deal was reasonable given that Paul was a consistent 20+ points-per-game scorer coming off his best three-point shooting season to date (41.3%).
Following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, though, it would be near impossible to justify that George is worth $50 million a year. In addition to battling injuries since joining the 76ers, the Fresno State product hasn’t shown that he isn’t the dynamic off-the-dribble playmaker he once was.
George is averaging 16.7 points per game on 43.4% from the field and 37.5% from three-point land in 88 games with the 76ers thus far.
George wouldn’t turn the Dubs into bottom feeders, but at this stage of his career, he isn’t a contributor they should be overly high on.
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