Jimmy Butler finally escaped from Miami and the Detroit Pistons were happy to be one of the five teams that were part of the deal that took him from South Beach to the Golden State Warriors.
The Pistons received guards Lindy Waters III from the Warriors and Josh Richardson from the Miami Heat in what amounted to a five-team deal involving XXXXX players to ensure Butler was able to land with the Warriors.
Butler also waived his player option and signed a two-year, $121 million extension with the Warriors.
As part of the deal, the Warriors sent out Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Shroder, Kyle Anderson and a protected first-round pick, per Shams Charania of ESPN.
Charania reports that Shroder is being routed to Utah and Anderson is going to Toronto. That would presumably cost one or both of Miami and Golden State some second-round draft capital, and PJ Tucker will be going from Utah to Miami.
Richardson is the bigger name coming to Detroit, but he hasn’t played more than 65 games since 2018 and has been limited to just eight games this season with Miami. He’s pretty much done, and I would not be surprised if he is simply released.
Waters is having a bit of a down year with the Warriors, but in his first three seasons in Oklahoma City, he showed that he could shoot the three at decent volume and efficiency. He is a 6-foot-6 guard who was playing 17 minutes a night in Golden State. He was averaging 5.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists.
Going into today, the Pistons had $14 million and an open roster spot. They previously agreed to a trade with the Sixers for forward KJ Martin.
That means the Pistons, with the information we have now, have added three players to a team with just one remaining roster spot. That means more information, or more moves will be coming before all of these deals are official.
We will add more information as it comes in.