The NBA season is now almost two months past the trade deadline and it is clear that one of the biggest trades at the deadline was the one that sent Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors.
Of course, the Warriors made a trade with the Miami Heat for Butler at the deadline to pair him alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, and it has worked out perfectly for Golden State.
Since adding Butler, the Warriors have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA and have climbed from 10th to sixth in the Western Conference standings.
It has been the complete opposite for Miami since the trade as they have struggled mightily and have fallen to 10th in the Eastern Conference standings due to their nine-game losing streak.
Earlier this week, former NBA player Theo Pinson made a bold statement saying that Pat Riley made a worse move by trading away Butler than Nico Harrison did by trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
"That is a worse trade than Dallas and the Lakers, by far. Jimmy Butler was Heat culture," Pinson said. "Regardless of what the (expletive) you thought he was doing off the court, that (expletive) brought a toughness. He brought a mentality. He had leadership. Bro, I swear to God, it did not matter what seed the Miami Heat were-if they got in the playoffs, any team that played them didn't want to see him and had to buckle the (expletive) up.
Theo Pinson says Pat Riley made a worse trade than Nico Harrison
"That is a worse trade than Dallas and the Lakers, by far… Jimmy Butler was Heat culture. Regardless of what the f*** you thought he was doing off the court, that motherf***** brought a toughness. He brought a… pic.twitter.com/iSyoItqHDZ
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 18, 2025
While Pinson does make a solid point about Butler being Heat culture and that no other team would want to face the Heat with him on their roster in the playoffs, it is still not as bad of a trade as the one that sent Doncic to Los Angeles.
Butler made it to where the Heat were forced to trade him, although Riley played a key role in him forcing his way out, where Harrison traded away Doncic out of the blue, which drew a ton of criticism from his peers and Mavericks fans.
With Doncic still being only 26 years old and already an NBA superstar, it is clear that the Mavericks and Harrison made the worst move, but Riley trading away Butler was a bad move as well despite it being forced upon them to do so.
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This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 12:34 PM.