This article details the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding Kevin Durant's potential return to the Golden State Warriors, the Jimmy Butler trade to the Miami Heat, and the Warriors' participation in a celebrity poker tournament during this time.
Brian Windhorst and Monica McNutt break down the Wednesday night trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors. annual celebrity poker tournament features heavy hitters from all over Silicon Valley who pay a premium to play Texas Hold 'em alongsideand the rest of the Warriors' players and coaches. All the proceeds go to the team's charitable foundation. No player has ever won the tournament, althoughmade the final table once.
By Saturday night, as people around the world were digesting the implications of the massive Doncic trade, multiple sources told ESPN that the Warriors were already deep into negotiations with theto reunite Durant with the franchise he won two Finals MVPs and championships with in 2017 and 2018. The teams had secretly been talking since early that week. Durant and his longtime business manager, Rich Kleiman, only learned of the stunning talks when the Suns played the Warriors on Friday, Jan. 31.
This was a triangle of increasing desperation and rising stakes: one team desperate to end an exhausting, embarrassing saga with its superstar, one team desperate to upgrade its roster and appease its stars, and one team desperate to extend a flailing dynasty by acquiring a new star.Brian Windhorst and Monica McNutt break down the Wednesday night trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors.were playing poker, Butler had been playing chess.
Throughout this saga, Butler has often spoken publicly in riddles or coded messages. This one isn't hard to decode. "I don't need Pat to make nothing right with me," Butler said."I expect everybody to talk. They're still going to talk and I'm going to do what I always do and put my head down." Heat sources counter that they had to adjust the offense because Butler missed so many regular-season games. He played an average of just 58 over his first five seasons in Miami. The last time he played 65 -- the NBA's current minimum to qualify for postseason honors -- was 2018-19, when he split the season between Minnesota and Philadelphia.to receive push notifications for the latest updates first. Opt in by tapping the alerts bell in the top right corner.
During their meeting on Jan. 7, Riley tried to convince Butler to stay the rest of the season, sources said. The Heat had walloped Butler with a stunning seven-game suspension, infuriating the players' union and leading to a filing of a grievance. But Riley had hoped to mend fences and even posited that if the meeting went well, sources said, there was a chance they could end the suspension early and Butler could fly to Salt Lake City the next day and join the team.
For weeks, the Suns tried to construct multiteam trades that would land Butler in Phoenix and Beal on some other team. But when Miami would cross-check with the teams Beal would supposedly land on in these constructions, they'd get conflicting information. Butler grew frustrated, sources said, taking the Heat's refusal to make a deal with Phoenix and send him where he wanted to go as a personal affront.
Earlier this week, with the trade deadline looming Thursday, and the Suns no closer to convincing Washington or Atlanta to facilitate by taking Beal, the Heat decided to engage more seriously with Golden State.When the Suns were first mentioned as a possible Butler destination, they made it clear they did not want to trade Durant; the intention was to pair Butler with Durant and Booker, team sources insist, building a better Big Three than the Beal-Booker-Durant trio had proven to be.
Riley, after all, had wanted Durant for years. In 2016, Riley landed one of the famous meetings in the Hamptons where Durant took pitches from various teams and the Warriors closed by getting Curry to sell Durant on a partnership. Riley had tried again in 2019 when Durant left Golden State for theIt was there to be done, Durant to Miami, and the teams traded proposals, sources said.
In Phoenix, the phones were quiet. The Heat were no longer engaging the Suns on Durant. The Wizards, who had been in discussions about joining the deal and takingoff the Suns' hands in a move that would save cap space, also moved on, and traded Valanciunas to theIn the evening, word started to leak out that Butler was nearing a contract agreement, a sign the Warriors would be landing him and the Suns were out. The Suns were deflated, sources said.
NBA KEVIN DURANT GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS JIMMY BUTLER MIAMI HEAT TRADES POERKER TOURAMENT
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