Jimmy Butler has been a perfect fit for Warriors

The Golden State Warriors were stuck. They weren’t quite in a doom spiral — it’s almost impossible to be truly bad with Steph Curry and Draymond Green on the court — but were not playing at the level of a true contender either.

When the Warriors finally made their move for Jimmy Butler, giving up Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and a protected first-round pick, they held a 25-26 record and sat in 10th place in the Western Conference. It’s been only four games, but the early returns on the Butler-era Dubs are positive. A 3-1 record — all four games away from the Chase Center — is somewhat bolstered by their opposition with wins against Chicago and an injury-depleted Milwaukee, nut a tough win at Houston (the night after a narrow loss to Dallas) was a huge boost, lifting the Warriors into a play-in position entering the All-Star break.

Butler’s raw stats since moving west have been impressive: 21.3 points, 7.0 rebounds (which would be a career high), 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals. The eye test backs up a pair of very important numbers: 14 shot attempts (his most since 2022, his last All-Star campaign) and 10 free-throw attempts (again, a career high) per game. These numbers attest to Butler’s aggression with ball in hand.

Golden State plays a famously pretty brand of basketball, adorned with a whirring of quick cuts and even quicker ball movement, designed to get Curry open or use his gravity to create gaps for teammates to exploit. When that teammate has five All-NBA nods to his name, those gaps become chasms in the eyes of a defense.

Butler is owning the paint as a Warrior and as much as the three reigns in today’s league, an attempt at the rim is still the best shot in basketball. Butler forces defenses to react, creating clean looks for the likes of Brandon Podziemski and Moses Moody. Rookie stretch big Quinten Post gives Butler even more room to operate. Prior to Butler’s arrival, Golden State were attempting 20.7 free throws a game, a lowly 27th in the NBA. That number has skyrocketed to 27.5, good for second in the Association.

Butler has also rediscovered his old All-Defense dynamism, with the Warriors generating almost three extra steals per game since his arrival, leading to 9.8 more points per game directly from turnovers. On a team where Curry was previously the only reliable source of creativity, those easy points are vital.

Perhaps the closest NBA facsimile to the Warriors' offensive panache is Erik Spoelstra’s Miami Heat. That, plus his naturally high basketball IQ, has seen Butler assimilate more comfortably into his new surroundings than past star imports, namely Chris Paul and Kevin Durant. In Durant’s case, his sheer talent almost forced the Warriors to adapt to him. There won’t need to be any such concessions for Butler, whose clever cutting should fit well with the Warriors (watching he and Green develop a chemistry will be fascinating) while his bully-ball stylings fill a desperate need for a side who had, with apologies to Jonathan Kuminga, nobody who could consistently pressure the basket. Speaking of their hyper-athletic phenom, Kuminga would do well to take in as many lessons from Butler as humanly possible. It could be the making of him.

Moving forward, Butler ticks a raft of boxes for Golden State. He is a perfect secondary creator which, in turn, allows Curry (who has looked utterly gassed at times this season) to take the occasional possession off. He provides paint pressure but with the passing chops to hit shooters that Kuminga simply lacks. Defensively he can still menace the ball when needed, another arrow Golden State didn’t previously have in their quiver.

Per Tankathon, the Warriors have the ninth-easiest remaining schedule and importantly the second easiest in the conference behind only Minnesota. With Butler onboard and Kuminga to return, it’s conceivable that Golden State makes a move up the standings. How does Sacramento’s Chicago tribute act turn out? Can Dallas tread water without Luka Doncic or an entire center rotation? The Clippers' smoke-and-mirrors show has been impressive, but would anyone be shocked if they started to fall away?