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While the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks certainly garnered the most post-trade deadline attention, the Golden State Warriors made a blockbuster trade in acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat. The Warriors have gone 3-1 since the Jimmy Butler trade, and Draymond Green spoke about the team’s confidence heading into the final stretch of the regular season, as per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“Shoutout to Jimmy Butler. Completely changed the belief of this team,” Green said. “We started off the year great, and everybody believed. And then continued to believe even though it was going rough. But at a certain point if it doesn’t start going right, you start to lose that belief, and we did.”
“Jimmy was like life support for us. He just came and injected a bunch of energy, a bunch of belief into this group,” Green continued. “Because of the leader that he is, because of the talent, the player that he is, because of the guy and dog that he is. We can all fall in line, a great guy to follow. . .that belief that he’s brought back to the team, I’m sure you can see it watching. To me when I’m watching, it looks different. When I’m playing, it feels different.”
In the four games that Jimmy Butler has played for the Warriors, he’s averaged 21.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 44.6 percent shooting from the field, 14.3 percent shooting from the three-point line and 85 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
While Butler’s three-point shooting percentage could stand to be better, there’s no question he has, for now, changed the mentality and possible trajectory of this team.
Warriors post NBA trade deadline
With the NBA currently at the All-Star break, the Warriors are 28-27 and in 11th place in the Western Conference standings. As it stands, they’re three and half games back of the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers, and making the playoffs outright without having to go through the play-in.
Whether the Warriors make an incredible surge in the standings or have to make the postseason via the play-in, Draymond Green believes the team will approach post-All-Star Break as if the playoffs have already started.
“It’s the playoffs for us coming out of the break. . .it’s a 27-game playoffs and then a grind to win 16,” Green said. “That’s the urgency I expect, that’s the urgency we will have.”
