The Warriors are reportedly interested in building a Big Four with Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Draymond Green. To do that, it is almost certain they will have to trade Jimmy Butler to create the cap space.
According to Sam Amico of The Hoops Wire, the Wizards are open to listening to trade offers for Anthony Davis. But they do not want to end up with Jimmy Butler’s contract in the process.
“Wizards would trade Anthony Davis. But if the Warriors want AD, they’d need to find a third team. Wizards are not interested in Jimmy Butler,” wrote Amico on X.
In the past, the Warriors have hesitated in trading for Anthony Davis due to price considerations like contract requirements and draft assets that would need to be traded to make it happen.
Even this time, the Warriors will have to find a third team that would likely ask for additional draft assets to potentially take on the contract of Jimmy Butler in any trade.
Butler is currently owed $56.8 million in the 2026-27 season, which, in an ideal scenario, would have been the perfect amount for a direct swap with the Wizards for Anthony Davis ($58.4 million) if Butler were healthy and the Wizards wanted him.
However, Butler is expected to miss most of the 2026-27 season while recovering from his ACL injury. Therefore, the Wizards would want draft assets and a promising young player instead of Jimmy Butler.
So the Warriors will have to find a third team that will not only take on the albatross of Jimmy Butler’s contract, but also a player like Moses Moody or a first-round pick to convince them to make this trade. I seriously doubt they will be able to accomplish that, especially since they gave Kristaps Porzingis a two-year, $40 million contract extension.
LeBron James reportedly would only consider joining the Warriors if Anthony Davis were on the roster. So if they hope to make the Big Four happen, the Warriors will have to open up their war chest of draft assets to lure a rebuilding team to offload Jimmy Butler’s contract.
But another major problem that the Warriors have to consider is Anthony Davis’ plans for his long-term future. The main reason why the Wizards are apparently putting him on the trade block is that he’s on an expiring contract and is seeking a max extension.
According to NBA insider Brett Siegel, AnthonyDavis is expected to request a trade to the Warriors if the Wizards meet his contract demands. But the Wizards’ front office doesn’t necessarily need to listen to him.
The Warriors have given Butler multiple reassurances over the last 24 hours that they’re not going to trade him. But the reality is, if they’re going after Anthony Davis, and obviously they won’t trade Stephen Curry, it would naturally mean that they will have to trade Butler to match Davis’ salary, and that’s the cold nature of this business right there.
Draymond Green opting out of his player option would not make sense if the Warriors’ front office were not planning financial flexibility moves for a player like Davis. So we might see some attempts from the Warriors to make this move happen.
They need to realize that to bring Anthony Davis to the Warriors, they would likely have to move mountains, which might put their entire future at risk for a move that doesn’t assure success either.
Hence, I anticipate that unless the Warriors use one or two of their four tradable first-round picks (2027, 2029, 2031, 2033) to offload Butler’s contract, the move for Davis seems very unlikely. And as a result, even LeBron James may not join the Warriors.
I think the contract extension for Porzingis shows that the Warriors may have decided to pivot from Anthony Davis, relying on their original analysis that he’s not worth the excessive price that gets demanded for him. The Warriors are now in a tricky position, and it will be interesting to see if they figure out a way to bring the Big Four together.
