Should the Warriors Trade Stephen Curry After Jimmy Butler's Injury?

Four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry turns 38 in March. Realistically, the Golden State Warriors star won’t get another chance to compete for his fifth championship until the 2027 playoffs, when Jimmy Butler III would have presumably returned from his ACL tear. At that point, Curry would be 39, while a returning Butler and Draymond Green would be past their 37th birthdays. With the 2025-26 season all but a wash, should the Warriors trade Stephen Curry? Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh has made a compelling argument for Golden State to bid adieu to their longtime franchise star and start their rebuilding process. “What do you want to do?” Haberstroh said of Curry. “Do you want to stay in Golden State and wait this out with Jimmy Butler? Or do you want to contend right now for a championship somewhere else?” Should Warriors Trade Curry? Haberstroh feels that Curry’s desire to stay with one franchise throughout his career, like Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki, may no longer be a feasible option if he truly wishes to compete for a fifth NBA championship. “I think there’s a real chance [of] Curry [playing for another team],” Haberstroh said. “…He has to be really pragmatic about this situation, maybe potentially talk to someone like LeBron James or with the Charlotte Hornets [hometown franchise].” The analytics guru highlighted that the Warriors have a 2-5 record without Jimmy Butler since they traded for him during last year’s NBA trade deadline. During this timeframe, they went 46-22 with Butler in the lineup, playing like a title contender. As such, a Butler-less Warriors gives Curry zero chance to remain competitive in the West. Last Dance for Warriors Even before Butler’s injury, the 2026-27 season was viewed as the “last dance” for the current iteration of the Curry-led Warriors. That’s because Curry, Butler and Green are all free agents in the 2027 offseason, when the Warriors are expected to have in excess of $100M in cap space. Many league insiders expect Warriors governor Joe Lacob to hit the reset button and usher in a new era that year, possibly ending the Curry era. “The door was always open to [Curry] to go elsewhere [after 2027], but it was only open a crack,” Haberstroh said. “But now with Jimmy Butler’s injury, the crack opens up a lot more.” Haberstroh, who has close ties to the Warriors front office, believes the franchise will entertain conversations if Curry requests a trade before 2027. “I still think he’s gonna be a Warrior for life, but if he says, ‘This has run its course, I want to compete at the highest level,’ I think that conversation becomes more real.” The idea of Stephen Curry donning a non-Warriors jersey is unfathomable, but stranger things have happened in the NBA. Perhaps Golden State owes it to Curry, the greatest player in franchise history, to help him in his pursuit of another championship. Curry is averaging 27.1 points and 5.1 assists in his 17th season with the Warriors. He’s still a consensus top-10 player, leading the league with 4.5 threes per game.