SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green clearly had been workshopping his bold message, telling anybody who would listen that the Golden State Warriors’ recent addition of Jimmy Butler was a game-changer of the highest order.
Or, at the very least, with Green sharing his bullish-on-Butler view behind the scenes during NBA All-Star Weekend, he wanted to make sure he truly believed what he was saying. It’s one thing to privately predict that your hovering-around-.500 team is going to win the championship, as the Golden State forward had been doing in recent days, and quite another to announce it for all the world to hear on one of the NBA’s most celebrated nights.
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Amid all the boredom and silliness that came with the league’s new All-Star format that (mostly) flopped, this was the most entertaining part of the entire program.
“We’re gonna win the championship,” Green said to TNT’s Adam Lefkoe, Jalen Rose and Vince Carter while doing his television duties before the Sunday night events.
“Say that one more time so that everybody can hear,” Lefkoe replied.
“I’m sorry,” Green, whose Warriors are 3-1 since Butler arrived from Miami, added with a bit of dramatic flair. “I said I think we’re gonna win a championship. But I lied. We are going to win the championship. That’s what’s going to happen.”
Draymond Green says the Warriors are going to win the championship 👀 pic.twitter.com/nbBFCJ5eFS
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 17, 2025
Now hit the rewind button and go back to midday Friday.
Green is standing in a hallway of the Hilton hotel in Union Square, talking shop with Warriors team president Brandon Schneider and me during the league’s annual Technology Summit when the topic of Butler and what he brings comes up.
“We’re going to win the championship,” Green said, his head bobbing with that same energy he would show two days later.
Truth be told, it took me a moment to figure out how to respond to what, at first glance, sounded like delusion. After all, the Vegas oddsmakers currently have 10 teams above the Warriors in their title-team odds (Golden State is a +5000 on BetMGM).
So I asked, somewhat delicately, if his prediction was intended to be applied to this current season. The Warriors are 28-27 overall, tied with the Sacramento Kings for ninth in the Western Conference, and miles behind teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the defending champion Boston Celtics, all of whom have proved to be quite formidable.
“Yes,” he replied. “Absolutely.”
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This wasn’t even the first time Green had made the statement, though. As Warriors owner Joe Lacob shared, Green told him as much before the weekend arrived.
Yet regardless of where the Warriors ultimately finish, the revelation here is that there’s a level of confidence — and cockiness even — that wasn’t there before the Butler deal went down. The Warriors, mired in the middle and faced with the prospect of wasting Steph Curry’s twilight years after their historic run, were determined to add a difference-maker at the trade deadline.
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Their well-chronicled pursuit of Kevin Durant fell apart at the end, with the Phoenix Suns superstar and former Warrior killing the deal at the 11th hour by declaring he had no interest in a reunion. Then came the shift to Butler, the 35-year-old whose messy divorce with Miami had initially given the Warriors pause when they considered dealing for him.
In terms of the early look at this new partnership, the sample size is still too small to get a real sense of the potential here. The Warriors beat the Chicago Bulls (132-111), the Milwaukee Bucks (125-111) and the Houston Rockets (105-98) with Butler in tow, while falling to the Dallas Mavericks (111-107). Butler averaged 21.3 points, seven rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals in those four games.
This much is clear: Butler, the six-time All-Star who led the Heat to two NBA Finals trips in his five full seasons in Miami, is the best co-star Curry has had since the Durant days. And Green, who had been imploring the team’s front office to find a two-way player of this ilk and edge for quite some time, is fully embracing Butler as a foundational member of this storied squad.
(Photo of Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
