Trade No. 3: Miami Heat
One team that is no stranger to big trades is the Miami Heat, and they are perennially star-hunting to bring top-tier talent to South Beach. A year after striking out on Damian Lillard, could they make a swing for Stephen Curry? They absolutely could.
Jimmy Butler could be a free agent next summer and is 34 years old; the window for Miami to put a contending team back around he and Bam Adebayo is closing, and a massive swing for Curry would force it back open for a couple of years. His shooting, ball-handling and off-ball movement would all make him an ideal fit with Butler and Adebayo, and it would give the Heat arguably the best Top 3 in the league (although Philadelphia and Boston would both like a word).
Fortunately or unfortunately for the Heat, they have plenty of matching salary to build out a trade. They are more limited in their available draft picks, but they can trade two firsts and three swaps in addition to the young players currently on the roster. Miami will want to keep someone to build out the rotation around their stars, but they'll need to include at least one of their prospects to make a trade offer viable.
Here is one such option:
To officially make this deal, the Heat would also need to attach a second-round pick to Josh Richardson and route him to another team because of Miami's proximity to the second tax apron and the Warriors' proximity to the first; neither team can take back more money than they send out, so a small contract has to be handed to a third team.
The Miami Heat would have an elite trio of stars in Curry, Butler and Adebayo. They could play big with Haywood Highsmith and Jaime Jaquez Jr. starting alongside them, or work Terry Rozier into the backcourt, or suddenly flourish an undrafted free agent they uncovered playing in the Maldives who is ready for NBA rotation minutes. The Heat are always finding role players, but it's the stars they need to go out and find.
Who Says No? The Miami Heat would almost certainly pull the trigger on this deal to add Curry to their roster for a couple of runs at a title before he and Butler age out of their primes. While Curry may be slightly uncomfortable at Butler's injury history, he is a "16-game player" who Curry can trust come playoff time, and he was just on Team USA with Erik Spoelstra and Bam Adebayo. If Curry wants to compete for titles, playing in Miami is one of the best options.
Would the Warriors accept this package? The Heat can only offer a pair of first-round picks at the moment, but they can include their first-rounder this year, Kel'el Ware, who looked great in Summer League. Tyler Herro holds value as well as a prolific scorer, and the Warriors would control the Heat's draft for five straight years; Curry and Butler will fall off at some point, and the Heat could dip toward the bottom of the standings for a few years when they do.
It's possible all three teams would be on board with this trade.