With desperation rising, the Golden State Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler before last season's deadline and immediately signed him to an extension afterward. He supposedly didn't want to go to Golden State, but you wouldn't have known that watching the Warriors after the Butler trade. Now, a few games into the 2025-26 regular season, the trade looks even better.
Golden State is 4-1, with its most recent win coming against the Clippers on Tuesday in the second half of a back-to-back, a night after the Warriors beat the Grizzlies. Golden State began the third quarter against LA down by three, 49-46, but 12 minutes later, the team had a double-digit lead, 78-63.
Butler started the third quarter for the Warriors, scoring two points off a dunk before he exited at the 7:13 mark. He checked back into the game three minutes later when Golden State had a 63-59 lead. From there, Butler hit two three-pointers, put back an offensive rebound for two, and finished the quarter with an assist to Brandin Podziemski.
In a little over four minutes, the Warriors went from having a four-point lead to a 15-point lead. You can call that the Jimmy Butler effect. Golden State went on to win, 98-79. Butler finished with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from three to go with five rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.
Oh, yeah. He also recorded his 16,000th NBA point in the process.
Scored his 16,000th career points & then some 🔥
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 29, 2025
🎥 Jimmy Butler highlights from the win over the Clippers pic.twitter.com/Yhv0VSHz4A
Jimmy Butler trade looks better than ever for the Warriors
To think that at the beginning of the year, fans were worried about trading for Butler, thinking that losing depth for an oft-disgruntled star would turn into a disaster. It turns out that all he needed was to join Steph Curry and Draymond Green in the Bay Area, where it feels like he was meant to be all along.
Sure, pairing a now-36-year-old with Curry, who turned 39 in March, and Green, who turned 35 in March, could end up backfiring on the Warriors, but so far, the team's younger players have proven they can help take some of the pressure off that trio.
The season just started last week, but Golden State genuinely looks like one of the best teams in the league. Everything is clicking. Butler is proving that the second half of last season was nothing more than a dream before Curry got hurt in the playoffs.
There is still a lot of basketball left to be played, but if you're a Warriors fan, you're feeling pretty good right about now. You're also thanking the front office (again) for trading for Butler, who very well could finally win a championship with the Golden State Warriors.