It's hard to envisage many other players in the league having the same impact on the Golden State Warriors that Jimmy Butler has since his arrival in early February.
The Warriors are now 21-6 since Butler's arrival, are 20-3 in games where he and Stephen Curry play, and have now turned a mediocre season into one that's starting to generate championship discussion.
The Warriors stumbled into Jimmy Butler after missing on a host of stars
When Butler was eventually acquired just before the trade deadline, it came after 12 months of Golden State trying to get their hands on a second offensive star to partner with 2x MVP Stephen Curry.
From LeBron James, to Kevin Durant, Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine, there was no shortage of veteran stars the Warriors were heavily interested in dating all the way back to last year's trade deadline. Even when they had a 9x All-Star in Paul George ready to come, the L.A. Clippers had no interest in a trade and preferred (now probably rightly) to let him walk for nothing in free agency.
Yet there's a multi-time All-Star that's often left out of the conversation of players Golden State whiffed on -- DeMar DeRozan. Sam Amick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported in October that DeRozan had an eye on the Warriors, along with the Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs, before eventually agreeing on a three-year, $73.9 million deal with the Sacramento Kings that saw him join via a sign-and-trade.
The 6x All-Star has continued to put up good numbers with the Kings, averaging 22.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists while shooting 48.1% from the field. Yet there's always been a slight question mark on DeRozan's ability to contribute to high-level winning, and that remains the case as the Kings remain below .500 at 38-40 and ninth in the Western Conference standings.
Now, Amick believe the futures of DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis could be facing some uncertainty in the offseason, with the potential that the 35-year-old finds himself on the trade block after just one year in Sacramento.
“You have DeMar, who I think is going to be similar to Sabonis,” Amick said. “There’s going to be some tough conversations in the summer where guys decide they feel like they want to be a part of this.”
DeRozan's season may have panned out differently had he joined the Warriors, but it's hard to see him having anywhere near the impact that Butler has. This is yet another example of the good fortune (and some good management) Golden State had in missing on some of these other All-Star calibre players, before stumbling into Butler at a time where their season was nearly well and truly done.
