Joe Lacob: Jimmy Butler 'Worth Every Freaking Penny'

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Golden State Warriors bought low trading for Jimmy Butler ahead of the trade deadline with the risk coming from his two-year, $121 million extension that runs through the 26-27 season and were rewarded with a playoff berth and first round win over the Houston Rockets. The Warriors missed the playoffs in 2024 and were floundering after a fast start to the season before trading for Butler.

“Yeah, there were (concerns about Butler),” Joe Lacob said. “But you do your analysis, you make your choices, and, yeah, it was a little bit of a risk. But we’ve got to take risks in this life. And he’s worth every freaking penny. That’s all I can say. He’s fantastic.”

With Butler, the Warriors had a 23-8 record, the NBA's third-best net rating, No. 1 defense and No. 8 offense.

"The way that everybody locked in (when he arrived), it made me feel welcome,” Butler said. “And we took off. … We never wavered. The confidence never went anywhere. (It’s a) really good group of hoopers. A really good group of people. So that’s what I’m gonna take into this next round, is (that) we’ve got some guys. We play at an extremely high level, and on any given night we can beat anyone.”

Via Sam Amick/The Athletic

[Sinistar6]

Is Jimmy the most overachieving player ever drafted by the bulls? Even the headaches he brings are nothing compared to the dog in him.

[hyberx]

Other than KD (or maybe Monta in the early part of Curry's career, but Monta didn't do much after getting traded), Curry has never had a franchise-type player until Butler. He would have a couple more rings if he had prime Butler, let alone two more franchise players.

[Vegeta10176]

Other than KD (or maybe Monta in the early part of Curry's career, but Monta didn't do much after getting traded), Curry has never had a franchise-type player until Butler. He would have a couple more rings if he had prime Butler, let alone two more franchise players.

Wtf prime klay prime draymond end of prime iggy and frigin KD.. Curry has played with the most stacked of the modern era.. Klay was an elite defender and shooter Dray was elite defender and playmaker and pre durant he was an ok shooter because he was given shots.. Iggy was a near max player even Bogut was a number 1 draft picks.. Curry has one finals MVP so ok if Curry played with more players that are better than him maybe he would have more rings that actually sounds reasonable.. I mean adding KD when you went 73-9 is always good..

[M2J]

Other than KD (or maybe Monta in the early part of Curry's career, but Monta didn't do much after getting traded), Curry has never had a franchise-type player until Butler. He would have a couple more rings if he had prime Butler, let alone two more franchise players.

Wtf prime klay prime draymond end of prime iggy and frigin KD.. Curry has played with the most stacked of the modern era.. Klay was an elite defender and shooter Dray was elite defender and playmaker and pre durant he was an ok shooter because he was given shots.. Iggy was a near max player even Bogut was a number 1 draft picks.. Curry has one finals MVP so ok if Curry played with more players that are better than him maybe he would have more rings that actually sounds reasonable.. I mean adding KD when you went 73-9 is always good..

These things are true

[Jax_23]

Other than KD (or maybe Monta in the early part of Curry's career, but Monta didn't do much after getting traded), Curry has never had a franchise-type player until Butler. He would have a couple more rings if he had prime Butler, let alone two more franchise players.

Lmao interesting choice to mention Monta Ellis (an overrated, no defense playing volume shooter) over guys like Iggy, Klay, Draymond, Bogut, etc.

[Jax_23]

This is why Joe Lacob is one of the best owners in sports. He takes good risks, knows basketball a bit, and relentlessly tries to win.

[hyberx]

Other than KD (or maybe Monta in the early part of Curry's career, but Monta didn't do much after getting traded), Curry has never had a franchise-type player until Butler. He would have a couple more rings if he had prime Butler, let alone two more franchise players.

Wtf prime klay prime draymond end of prime iggy and frigin KD.. Curry has played with the most stacked of the modern era.. Klay was an elite defender and shooter Dray was elite defender and playmaker and pre durant he was an ok shooter because he was given shots.. Iggy was a near max player even Bogut was a number 1 draft picks.. Curry has one finals MVP so ok if Curry played with more players that are better than him maybe he would have more rings that actually sounds reasonable.. I mean adding KD when you went 73-9 is always good..

Prime klay prime draymond end of prime iggy, end of prime bogut, none of them are franchise players whom you get to build around with as the center piece. None of them were paid like one either. Great players? Sure, any championship teams have them. They were not the 3 headed franchise players Super Team that LeBron popularized (Wade, Bosh, Love, Irving, were all top 10 players in the league and even top 5 in their own positions when they colluded to join the team).

That's the point. Sure, with KD, Curry had two super teams. Yet he got 2 more with just a good support team. What about the last ring Curry got in 2021-2022? Klay just came back from 2 years off on two injuries and played 32 games with low shooting %. Prime whom? Andrew Wiggins the underachiever, was the 2nd best player behind Curry.

[elchengue20]

Other than KD (or maybe Monta in the early part of Curry's career, but Monta didn't do much after getting traded), Curry has never had a franchise-type player until Butler. He would have a couple more rings if he had prime Butler, let alone two more franchise players.

He had the most stacked team of all time for 2 rings.

And he won his 1st ring playing against a team starting Dellavedova and Mozgov.

Also Khawi and CP3 got hurt when they were giving them huge problems in '17 and '18 WCF.

He has been pretty lucky his whole carreer, he's awesome and it's not his fault, but i don't think it's fair to call him a circunstances victim.

[hyberx]

Other than KD (or maybe Monta in the early part of Curry's career, but Monta didn't do much after getting traded), Curry has never had a franchise-type player until Butler. He would have a couple more rings if he had prime Butler, let alone two more franchise players.

He had the most stacked team of all time for 2 rings.

And he won his 1st ring playing against a team starting Dellavedova and Mozgov.

Also Khawi and CP3 got hurt when they were giving them huge problems in '17 and '18 WCF.

He has been pretty lucky his whole carreer, he's awesome and it's not his fault, but i don't think it's fair to call him a circunstances victim.

Sure, with KD it was a super team, that's a given. The two other rings are "lucky"? That's a moot point, as if Curry didn't "lose" one to LeBron because Adam Silver decided to interfere by suspending Draymond Green over a butt-tap to give LeBron a chance to get one for Cleveland, both Iggy and Bogut went down, and Kyrie was the one who hit the last shot. Curry also lost another one to Khawi and Raptors because they were "lucky" enough that KD and Klay both went down.

Injury is part of the game on the court. League interference and collusion to form a Super Team are not.

[CaHgO]

Other than KD (or maybe Monta in the early part of Curry's career, but Monta didn't do much after getting traded), Curry has never had a franchise-type player until Butler. He would have a couple more rings if he had prime Butler, let alone two more franchise players.

He had the most stacked team of all time for 2 rings.

And he won his 1st ring playing against a team starting Dellavedova and Mozgov.

Also Khawi and CP3 got hurt when they were giving them huge problems in '17 and '18 WCF.

He has been pretty lucky his whole carreer, he's awesome and it's not his fault, but i don't think it's fair to call him a circunstances victim.

Sure, with KD it was a super team, that's a given. The two other rings are "lucky"? That's a moot point, as if Curry didn't "lose" one to LeBron because Adam Silver decided to interfere by suspending Draymond Green over a butt-tap to give LeBron a chance to get one for Cleveland, both Iggy and Bogut went down, and Kyrie was the one who hit the last shot. Curry also lost another one to Khawi and Raptors because they were "lucky" enough that KD and Klay both went down.

Injury is part of the game on the court. League interference and collusion to form a Super Team are not.

Lol, I am not a LeBron fan, nor a Cleveland fan, and I love Steph, but what the hell are you talking about?! There can be no conspiracy theories when you blow a 3-1 lead to an infinitely inferior team and LeBron drops an average of 30/11/9 on your head (plus 5 stocks). Credit where it's due - Bron single-handedly dismantled the Warriors. In addition, the proven fact that Draymond is insane and a disaster waiting to happen, and he could hurt his own team as much as he can help them, has nothing to do with Adam Silver.

Against the Raptors it was indeed a truly bad luck, but in theory Steph and Draymond should be enough to overcome Kawhi and a bunch of role players with zero championship experience.

So yes, Warriors did have the most stacked them for pretty much a decade and for their first 3 championships. You could even argue that for the 2022 championship they had a super easy path and played a weak Celtics team who almost got eliminated by both Miami and the Bucks.