Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green called out criticism of teammate Jimmy Butler after Butler’s former team, the Miami Heat, traded forward Haywood Highsmith.
“Y’all(internet experts) wanted Jimmy to come off the bench behind dude, and 5 months later The Heat traded him for a bag of chips,” Green wrote on Threads. “That’s wild.”
Green also reacted to the Heat moving Highsmith on his Instagram story, which elicited a response from Butler.
On Friday, Miami dealt Highsmith and a 2032 second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a 2026 protected second-round selection.
The Heat previously moved Butler to the Warriors in a blockbuster deal on Feb. 5.
Prior to the six-time All-Star’s change of scenery, Butler received a suspension from the Heat after he told reporters that he wanted to find his joy playing basketball and “probably” wouldn’t be able to do so in Miami.
He eventually returned to the team, but was handed another suspension once he walked out of a Heat shootaround after being informed the team was planning to start Highsmith over him moving forward (via ESPN’s Shams Charania).
Following Butler’s trade to Golden State, the Warriors thrived.
The team owned a record of 23-7 in his 30 regular-season appearances as a member of the organization.
Butler averaged 17.9 points, 5.9 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game on 47.6/27.9/87.0 shooting splits with the Warriors.
As for Highsmith, he ended the year by averaging 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from three-point territory. His departure from Miami contained a financial incentive, as the team moved back under the luxury-tax threshold by trading him to Brooklyn.
As the Heat continue to navigate through the offseason, Green is still happy that Butler ended up with Golden State during its 2024-25 campaign.