Butler and Curry failed to win the championship in their first season. Is there still a chance next year?

On May 21, the 2023-24 season, when Jimmy Butler airborne Golden State and formed a unique combination of "Tough Guy + Cute God" with Stephen Curry, the entire league was shocked. However, this super duo, which was highly anticipated, ended up failing in the Western Conference Finals and losing to the young Thunder 2-4. Now standing at the crossroads of the summer of 2025, the Warriors management is facing a cruel proposition: under the heavy pressure of Butler's five-year maximum salary contract of 268 million yuan (annual salary exceeds 50 million from 2025), can this seriously aging champion team still seize Curry's peak tail and win another championship?

**Salary Cage: The Reinforcement Dilemma Behind the 192 million luxury tax**

According to the 2025-26 season salary cap (US$158 million) officially released by the NBA, the Warriors' current total guaranteed contract has reached 192 million, and it is a foregone conclusion to trigger the super luxury tax line. Butler's salary of 53.46 million next season will account for 28% of the team, which even exceeds the annual salary of Klay Thompson (32 million) and Mengmeng Green (27.6 million). What's even more difficult is that the team is also facing the renewal of Jonathan Cumingga (restricted free agent), the 24-year-old striker averaged 16.5 points per game last season, with a market price expected to be around 25 million.

Salary expert Bobby Max calculated the calculations on the ESPN show: "If the Warriors match any offer from Kumingga, their total expenditure (salary + luxury tax) in the 2025-26 season will exceed $400 million. This means that management can only strengthen with basic salary and veterans' special cases, and veterans in the market who can provide real-time combat power, such as Paul Millsap or Patty Mills, will find it difficult to fill the Warriors' most lacking forward athletic ability. "

**Age Crisis: The physical alert of the core lineup**

When Curry shot three-nos at the last moment of the Western Conference Finals G6, the camera captured the scene of him holding his knee and gasping for breath. The first scorer in history, who is about to be 37 years old, hit a record low in the past five years (62 games) last season, and his three-point shooting percentage in the playoffs fell below 38% for the first time. Although Butler maintains the legend of "playoff mode", his age at 35 has made his knee wear become a time bomb - he missed three games in the 2024 playoffs, and his breakthroughs fell by 27% compared to the Heat period.

The evaluation report of medical expert Jeff Stotts shows: "The average age of the Warriors' core rotation is 32.4 years old, and it is the oldest championship team in the past decade. Wiggins' athletic ability has deteriorated significantly, with the vertical jumping height dropping 12 cm compared to the Timberwolves' period; the back injury of dreams requires an analgesic before each game. "This kind of physical condition seems particularly difficult in modern basketball that emphasizes conversion speed and unlimited defense switching.

**Tactical adaptation: The chemical reaction problem of two ball-holding cores**

Coach Steve Cole has tried "dual-core drive" system with limited results. During the regular season, when Butler held the ball, Curry averaged 15% of his running distance per game, but the proportion of receiving and shooting dropped to 41% (career average of 53%). In the playoffs against the Thunder, the net efficiency value of this combination at the critical moment (within 5 points in the last 5 minutes) was only -4.3. The shot of Butler being cut in the last moment of G4 and Curry being forced to make a long three-pointer become a microcosm.

"They are like leaders in two different time zones," TNT commentator Kenny Smith commented. "Butler needs to grind the position and dig the inside line, and Curry wants to quickly pass and find a three-pointer opportunity. When the game is in full swing, the Warriors' offense often falls into hesitation of 'should be fast and slow'. "Data shows that the Warriors' winning rate at clutch time last season was only 18th, far lower than the second in the league in the 2022 championship season.

**Break the deadlock: The game of three realistic paths**

Despite the difficulties, the Warriors still have theoretical breakthrough plans. The first is to convince Butler to give up his 15% trading margin (about 8 million) and take a first-round pick (2027, 2029) to seek a deal, with potential targets including Pacers’ Miles Turner (28 years old, with an annual salary of 20 million) or Magic’s Wendell Carter Jr. The second type is to persuade Clay to accept a decreasing contract similar to Holiday (75 million in 3 years) to make room for some special cases for the middle class. The most radical solution is Markkanen, who used Wiggins + Moody + 2 in the first round to exchange for Jazz, but the Jazz management is very interested in this.

Sports Illustrated reporter Chris Mannicks revealed: "The Warriors' new boss Joe Lacob is still hesitating whether to pay a historical luxury tax. Some internal voices believe that the first round of picks in 2026 (Curry's retirement year) should be retained to leave a way out for the post-Curry era. "This long-term consideration and Curry's demand to "win in the present" are forming subtle tension in the locker room.

Looking back at the 2025 node, the Warriors' dilemma is just like the replica of the Lakers' F4 tragedy in 2013 - the superposition of superstars may not produce chemical reactions, and the imbalance in salary structure may destroy the foundation of the dynasty. But Curry's statement to reporters after training recently was still full of fighting spirit: "I have talked with Jimmy many times, and we know what the problem is. Sometimes great stories require some twists and turns, right?" This statement seems to imply that the Warriors management is more likely to choose the conservative route of "betting for another year." After all, in the NBA world, as long as Curry can still hit those incredible three-pointers, a miracle will always happen.