Warriors' Draymond Green slams Jimmy Butler critics after recent Heat trade

Warriors' Draymond Green slams Jimmy Butler critics after recent Heat trade originally appeared on The Sporting News

The Miami Heat's decision to trade forward Haywood Highsmith did not produce a massive ripple effect across the NBA landscape when news of the deal first broke.

The transaction — sending Highsmith (and a 2032 second-round pick) to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a conditional 2026 second-round pick — was merely meant for the Heat to shed some salary and open up another spot on their roster.

It did, however, gain more widespread attention when Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green commented on the deal, directing shot at those who support the Heat organization in the process.

What did Green say about the trade?

One day after the trade went down, Green published a post on Threads that seemingly called out critics of his teammate Jimmy Butler, who the Warriors acquired in a separate trade with the Heat on Feb. 6.

"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 in the post. "That’s wild."

Green also made a separate post about the trade on his Instagram story, writing, "Look what you've done Jimbo."

Butler responded to Green on his own Instagram story, which wrote, "Don't put that evil on me ricky bobby! I had nothing to do with it! let me live my offseason with my blonde weave in."

Green — a player who, historically, has let his voice be heard, whether a situation involves himself or not — has reason to come to Butler's defense. The Warriors had been struggling for most of the 2024-25 season before Butler's arrival; after his debut, the team went 23-8 over its final 31 regular-season games, which was enough to finish seventh in the Western Conference.

Green's comments likely won't turn into anything bigger than internet banter, but the Warriors and Heat are set to meet for the first time this season on Nov. 19.