The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Thu, 06 Feb 2025
Dave DuFour, Zena Keita, and Sam Amick react to the Jimmy Butler trade, what happened with Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter to the Cavs and more. Then break down the rest of the trade deadline including what did, and did not happen.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena Keita & Sam AmickExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened on trade deadline day?
Welcome to the NBA Daily. It's trade deadline day. So we got Sam Amick to break down all the big moves from the last 24 hours and the fallout ramifications. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena. Good morning, Sam. Although it's afternoon, let me not pretend like we're not talking right after the trade deadline. This is probably going to go out pretty fast. This is an emergency podcast.
We just finished the live stream. If you caught us there, thanks for hanging out with us all day. It was a pretty good time. Sam, I know you're the busiest guy on the planet right now, so let's jump right in. Jimmy Butler, he's now a warrior. We thought he was going to go to Phoenix. That didn't work out. How did this happen?
Guys, thanks for having me. I think you're as busy as I am. I just saw you on the live stream and now you're on the pod. So appreciate you joining me here. I mean, listen, it's funny if you go back a couple of weeks on the Jimmy Butler front. Myself, Marcus Thompson, Anthony Slater had detailed in a story how the Warriors. seemingly did not have interest in Jimmy Butler.
And we had information and insight from top to bottom. You're talking ownership, front office players. There were certainly people in the building who thought it might be a good idea, but really in Warriors world, as Zena knows really well, where the prominent voices there matter so much.
The early signaling was we do need help, but it was so messy in Miami with Jimmy, there was some reservation about him being the perfect guy. Now fast forward to the trade deadline getting closer and closer, the Warriors' pursuit of Kevin Durant and that possible reunion that honestly two nights ago I went to bed thinking, man, I think this is going to happen.
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Chapter 2: How did Jimmy Butler end up with the Warriors?
And that obviously played a big part here. It showed a couple of things. It showed the level of desperation with the Warriors because they knew at that time that Kevin wasn't going to be thrilled about coming back. Now, they were willing to do the deal with a certain level of discomfort. And as we reported yesterday, I think it was, the Suns had interest in Draymond, for example.
And there were some folks talking about how, man, would the Warriors think about – maybe even moving Draymond to relieve pressure from those dynamics to make Kevin more comfortable to come to the Warriors. That's the kind of stuff they were looking at.
But when Kevin decided clearly to broadcast the level of disinterest and discontent that would be there if he went to the Warriors, that was a game changer because the level of uncomfortableness went up for the Warriors. They had to then figure out, okay –
That option that had all that history and basketball-wise, obviously, you would just put Kevin right in and get back to doing what they did a few years ago. That's off the table. Then they turned to Jimmy. And really, it's, I think, a win-win for both sides. I still think Jimmy Butler is one of the best players on the planet. Take all the drama away.
He's an incredible ballplayer who, honestly, if you talk about making the most of your talents, he's on my short list all time. For sure. And the Warriors... Give him this extension that really is one additional year because he declines the option for next year, has a year after that. So you are talking about two and a half years potentially.
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Chapter 3: What was the Warriors' strategy regarding Kevin Durant?
You know, that's the contract relationship where we're going to see what what Steph and Draymond and Jimmy can do. But it was a pretty interesting path to get there.
Now, we talked to Marcus Thompson a little bit about this on the live stream today. And I asked him about the timeline because you bring in Jimmy Butler at 35 years old. You're paying him $60 million a year about to make a move now. But at the same time, you're keeping a young core in Jonathan Kaminga, Moses Moody, Brandon Pajemski, Trey Jackson Davis, Quentin Post. I mean, the list goes on.
It does seem as if... The priority doesn't seem to be clear between this team. Are we trying to win now and take advantage of the star power that is left in Steph Curry and pair him with a big time score in Jimmy Butler right now?
Or did we do just enough, especially considering they didn't make any more moves past that, to keep our young core and really focus on keeping this thing entertaining until the young core is ready to take over?
Right. To me, Zena... The optics, there's just enough there where they can say, oh, no, we have young guys that are going to improve and we'll see if we can get a new deal done for Kaminga this summer. And so you can sort of check the young box in the future box.
But where I land on this and where it feels like they landed is that one way or another, Steph Curry is going to one day not be on your team anymore. And when that day comes, the best case scenario of whatever strategy you come up with right now is going to pale in comparison to what you had in him and what you did with him. And so that leads you to say – All right. Jimmy's crazy. He's nuts.
You know, sometimes in good ways, sometimes in dysfunctional ways. But, you know, I was in the bubble when he took the heat to the finals. And like that dude was a monster. And that dude, when he's motivated early in the Miami years. Incredible. I mean, if you would have given him one more guy, then, you know, I think they put a better fight up against the Lakers. Yeah. So he's 35. I get that.
Uh, he does take very good care of his body. He's going to be motivated. Uh, you know, I think it could be a good fit. I kind of like the fire when you talk about spark and competitiveness, my God, Jimmy Butler and Draymond green. Are you kidding me? Shooting is, you know, something I think in the buyout market, they got to start trying to find some shooters.
They've gone from splash brothers to, you know, cannibal brothers. Uh, So I, you know, yeah, that's better job, Dave. But you know, I'm kind of digging it for now. I think it'll be fun to watch.
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Chapter 4: Why were the Suns considering trading Kevin Durant?
And I'll be honest, it's funny, as long as I've covered Kevin, I've joked in the past couple of days with colleagues, And I like and respect Kevin, and we have all learned how sensitive he can be at times to being represented publicly with his feelings and his emotions.
So all I'm saying is I'm not speaking for how Kevin felt, but the Suns and people around the NBA were getting intel that Kevin might be available if they don't get Jimmy. So the idea was that he's not satisfied with the Suns. He was hopeful that they would get Jimmy, and then he would have renewed hope. And once that wasn't going to happen, this is the part that I love.
There were strong indications that Pat Riley was kind of sitting up in his chair a little bit and going, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. If the Warriors are going to get Kevin Durant, I think I want Kevin Durant. I think I'm going to swoop in and take Kevin and box the Warriors out and go that route.
In fact, as we sit here on our podcast, one of Kevin's producers, whose name is escaping me, I've talked to him before, but one of his closest kind of Friends in the media space had tweeted out a picture of Kevin in a heat jersey or put it on IG. And so that got people's attention, you know, and so that's the sequence of events.
And now I don't know how far you guys want to go down the Kevin Durant road, but certainly as you want. Well, I mean, I wrote the other day that the Warriors were not alone and talked about Dallas and the fact that they made the trade for Luka.
And, you know, myself and another one of my colleagues, David Aldridge, had multiple people telling us that Dallas had their eyes on KD as a possible, you know. Domino 1 was AD. Domino 2, what about KD? And they didn't expect that to be something that would unfold at this deadline because, again, people didn't think Kevin would be available. So I think that's worth watching in the summertime.
Another team that I hit on was Houston. Now, admittedly, man, Houston's always a tricky one because – They feel so good about what they have now, where they're going, that their message had been, we want to see this group through at least until the summer. But leading up to the deadline, there were some indications that they were kicking the tires on Kevin.
Now, admittedly, when we wrote our piece, You know, they were messaging immediately, like, I don't think we're, you know, a home for KD. So that is a case where the dynamics are interesting. GM Rafael Stone is there, Coach Ime Odoka. I definitely get the idea that, you know, I think there's just people in the room talking about this. But Houston became part of the conversation.
Now, if you look at the summertime, and we'll see how Phoenix plays the rest of the way, I think it's 100% fair game to say, you know, You know that the the monitoring of Kevin Durant is now on a whole different level with people wondering, you know, what's going to happen there.
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Chapter 5: What trades did the Lakers make during the deadline?
They get this, you know, floor spacing, like vertical spacing, big to pair with Luka Doncic. They are serious contenders now in the West just by adding Luka Doncic. But now they've got this perfect fit. And offensively, I think they're going to be a pretty big load.
How did the Mark Williams trade come about for the Lakers and like, were they, were they thinking about other guys or was this the guy that they had their eye on the whole day?
First of all, Dave, I got to rib you a little bit, my friend. Like, man, how many times have we said on paper, like, this is a perfect fit and it's going to be great. And the Lakers famously had the Sports Illustrated cover, like, this is going to be fun with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash and Kobe and all that. So I'm going to reserve judgment on paper.
Yeah.
Chapter 6: How will Luka Doncic and Mark Williams fit into the Lakers' plans?
It looks good. Luka's coming off a calf injury. You know, I think his general health obviously has been a hot topic lately. Mark Williams, I like the addition. Some health concerns with him that, you know, people have obviously talked about his struggles on that front. But yeah, the roster looks fantastic. I love, absolutely love Luka.
what i've been hearing and i have not been to la since the trade but um from here hearing from lebron about his headspace in relation to luca um that clip from the game the other night with luca on the bench when lebron just goes beast mode through the lane and finishes and one looks at luca and says basically this is what we do you know like that sort of Chemistry could be a lot of fun to watch.
So I'm still a little bit in shock that this deal went down. To your question about getting Williams, you know, before the trade, Lakers obviously already on the hunt for a big – at that time it was to satisfy – well, I shouldn't say that. We didn't know at that time. We thought it was to satisfy Anthony Davis' desire to play at the four spot.
But considering the Luka discussion dates all the way back to February 7th, that was not the case. They had talks with Houston about Steven Adams. No deal gets close there, just not enough on the table. We heard names like Robert Williams out of Portland. Jonas Valanciunas, although I, you know, pre-deadline or pre-Luka trade, been told that he was too kind of plotting for their preference.
So once you get Luka, then, you know, I would love to have seen their list. And who knows, maybe I could still track it down. The list of lob prets and these types of players, because, you know, Luka's skill set is so unique and so dynamic that, you know, you knew what kind of player you wanted.
You know, defensively, some concerns here, but offensively, I think a wonderful fit in the vein of Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford. You know, we've seen how much damage Luka can do with guys like that. So, you know, kind of like the Warriors, I'm fired up to see this team too.
It's interesting how you have to play the game of chess as a team of, let me not give this team too much because we don't want them to also come back and beat us. But I feel like the Mavs within the West just gave the Lakers exactly what they needed to level up. My curiosity, I think about when Boogie Cousins came to the Warriors and
Now, what I felt when I worked in the front office, I was singing boogie-oogie-oogie. I was feeling it, right? I was just like, this is going to be perfect. They're going to be monsters. And Dave, Sam, I don't know if you guys remember, it was not easy getting that team to gel on the court. I mean, yes, they made it.
to the finals but that was due to another very tall person out in phoenix alongside steph clay and draymond not necessarily the addition of boogie i'm curious if there's other teams that you've can you you can think of in like recent history that have added major players and it's not worked out as well just to level set because i think right now everyone's like including myself the lakers just leveled up they might win a championship like they might do this sure
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