Andrew Wiggins hit with stray by exec eyeing Warriors playoff run

The Golden State Warriors are one of the outside contenders in the Western Conference after trading for Jimmy Butler earlier in the season. That move changed the course of this 2024-25 campaign for Golden State, as a team that once seemed destined for the play-in is now comfortably a playoff team.

Butler was obviously the best player in that trade, but the Warriors still gave up valuable pieces to get him to the Bay Area and end his long standoff with the Miami Heat. Wiggins was a big-time contributor for Golden State, but a Western Conference executive thinks the difference between him and Butler goes beyond just the stat sheet, via Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

“The most important thing is their confidence, not their record. People think Steph and Dray don’t need confidence, but they all do. [Andrew] Wiggins didn’t always have that and you could tell. Jimmy has provided that,” a West executive said, per Bontemps and Windhorst.

“I would not want to play them in any round.”

The Warriors are playing for their playoff seeding on Sunday against the LA Clippers. If they win, they will get the No. 6 spot in the postseason, but are in serious danger of falling into the play-in if they were to lose. That would be a huge disappointment for the Warriors after the hot streak that they have been on since the trade.

There is no question that the Warriors have been playing with a different edge since the trade and are a dangerous team for anybody to play in a playoff series. Golden State has championship experience with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green and is hot coming into the postseason.

The West is loaded at this point in the season and there is still plenty to be decided on Sunday when it comes to the playoff seeding. No matter who ends up where, fans are sure to get some juicy matchups in the first round and beyond.