Butler’s arrival boosts Curry, Warriors

NEW YORK – Last year, the conversation that dominated the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Weekend was the potential pairing of Stephen Curry and LeBron James as they wind up their legendary careers.

This year, it has shifted to the big moves that their teams made at the trade deadline to give Curry and James greater chances to make one final run separately before they hang up their sneakers.

The Lakers swapped Anthony Davis with Luka Doncic as James’ running mate in the most shocking trade in NBA history. Not to be outdone, the Warriors also made a big swing on Jimmy Butler as Curry’s new sidekick.

“I think the biggest -- well, we've all learned recently how quickly things can change in this league, some of the unexpected happening,” Curry said during his media availability for the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco.

“The patience or like assessing where your team is and what can actually make you better, how far that gap is, that's why there's GMs and player personnel groups and advanced analytics and all that, because from a player's perspective, we obviously know the game, see the game, feel the game and have a certain opinion about how you can be competitive.”

“But that's why everybody gets paid to do their job. Every team is trying to figure out how to make the necessary moves to -- if your goal is to win a championship, to do that. Obviously ours, and like you said, the Lakers and plenty of other teams are trying to do that on a daily basis.”

Curry has been revitalized by Butler’s addition. In four games with Butler, Curry is averaging 35.3 points, 5.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 39.7 percent from the three-point range.

Butler’s inside game has complemented Curry’s outside game.

The Warriors have won three of their first four games with Butler posting averages of 21.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists while making 8.5 of 10 free throw attempts.

The Butler trade is working for the Warriors, who are now 1.74 betting favorites (meaning a $1 bet will give you a $7.40 win) to reach the NBA playoffs at Wildz. In contrast, a bet of $1 on the Warriors not making the playoffs yields a bigger profit ($11.10).

Golden State coach Steve Kerr has set a goal of climbing to sixth seed in the Western Conference for the last outright playoff berth.

They are just 3.5 games behind the current sixth seed Los Angeles Clippers (31-23).

The Warriors are currently tied with the Sacramento Kings for the ninth seed with an identical 28-28 record when they headed into the All-Star break.

“For us as players, you just do your job and make sure you're staying prepared and healthy and available and handling our business,” Curry said.

“But that's why there are folks upstairs that are relied on to make those tough decisions and try to do their job the best they can.”