The Warriors view midseason addition of Jimmy Butler as a big move for next season

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Golden State Warriors head into the offseason following a second-round playoff exit having already made their biggest move to boost the roster for 2025-26.

A midseason trade for Jimmy Butler sparked a late-season surge that carried the Warriors on a successful run that came to an abrupt end after star Stephen Curry's injured hamstring led to four straight losses to Minnesota.

The hope for Golden State now is that a full season with Butler alongside Curry and Draymond Green will give coach Steve Kerr the core he needs to compete in the ultra-tough Western Conference.

“I think we made a big jump adding Jimmy Butler,” general manager Mike Dunleavy said Friday. “This time last year I was probably concerned about our ability to have like a No. 2 guy. We went out this year, we got that, and now I feel better going into next season having a guy like Jimmy on our roster. ... I just overall feel like we’re in much better shape right now than we were a year ago. We’ll keep chipping away at this thing. As long as Steph, Draymond, Steve as well as our coach, as long as they’ve still got their fastball, we’re going to keep pursuing titles.”

The addition of Butler from Miami made an immediate impact for the Warriors. They were 25-26 when he made his debut in February and the team posted a 27-8 record overall in the regular season, play-in tournament and playoffs when both Butler and Curry were in the lineup.

That had the Warriors believing they could make another title run before Curry went down with a hamstring injury in a Game 1 win against the Timberwolves.

Golden State then lost the next four games and couldn't extend the series long enough for Curry to return as the team lacked enough options on offense without its best player.

“He’s our sun. This is the solar system, he’s our sun. You’re not going to duplicate Steph any time soon,” Kerr said. “So any talk of do we need to change our offensive system, to me is kind of laughable. ... It’s like what we’ve done has been incredibly powerful. Steph is, again, one of the all time greatest players, playing at the peak of his power still, I think, or very close to it. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. Anything else would be a disservice to our team.”

The big questions this offseason are filling out the roster around the big three stars with the biggest unknown being the status of Jonathan Kuminga.

Kuminga had a promising start to the season before being sidelined by an ankle injury for 31 games. The team added Butler during his absence and Kuminga struggled to fit in when he returned and played only sparingly — if at all — in the playoffs before Curry got hurt.

Kuminga averaged 24.3 points in the final four games, showing the ability that could make him an attractive target for other teams when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer.

The Warriors have the right to match any offer sheet he signs but could opt to seek a sign and trade and use Kuminga as a chip to fill other holes with players who fit in better with Curry, Butler and Green. Kerr described Kuminga's situation late in the season as “square peg, round hole.”

“All in all, he’s a guy who’s got a lot of talent and a lot of ability,” Kerr said. “Still growing, still raw in many ways, but a lot of what we have to figure out is roster construction and the combination. Basketball is always a five-man game, and combinations were tricky. They just were.”

The other major need for the Warriors is adding more shooters to space the floor and more size throughout the lineup both to be better against bigger perimeter players and to have a bigger defensive presence that allows Green to play power forward rather than center like he did late in the season.

“I don’t want to start next season with Draymond as our starting 5,” Kerr said. “I think it’s doable for the last 30 games like we did this year, but you see the toll it takes on him. He’s talked about it too.”

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Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga speaks during a news conference at the NBA basketball team's facility in San Francisco, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) talks with head coach Steve Kerr after he fouled out during Game 3 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves in San Francisco, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr gestures during the first half of Game 3 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Saturday, May 10, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler III vie for rebound position against Minnesota Timberwolves' Rudy Gobert in NBA Western Conference Semifinals' Game 5 at Target Center in Minneapolis on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Glenn Hall, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose ironman streak of 502 starts as a goaltender remains an NHL record, has died. He was 94.

Nicknamed “Mr. Goalie,” Hall worked to stop pucks at a time when players at his position were bare-faced, before masks of any kind became commonplace. He did it as well as just about anyone of his generation, which stretched from the days of the Original Six into the expansion era.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Blackhawks confirmed the team received word of Hall’s death from his family. A league historian in touch with Hall’s son, Pat, said Hall died at a hospital in Stony Plain, Alberta, on Wednesday.

A pioneer of the butterfly style of goaltending of dropping to his knees, Hall backstopped Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 1961. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs in 1968 with St. Louis when the Blues reached the final before losing to Montreal. He was the second of just six Conn Smythe winners from a team that did not hoist the Cup.

His run of more than 500 games in net is one of the most untouchable records in sports, given how the position has changed in the decades since. Second in history is Alec Connell with 257 from 1924-30.

“Glenn was sturdy, dependable and a spectacular talent in net,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “That record, set from 1955-56 to 1962-63, still stands, probably always will, and is almost unfathomable — especially when you consider he did it all without a mask.”

Counting the postseason, Hall started 552 games in a row.

Hall won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1956 when playing for the Detroit Red Wings. After two seasons, he was sent to the Black Hawks along with legendary forward Ted Lindsay.

Hall earned two of his three Vezina Trophy honors as the league's top goalie with Chicago, in 1963 and '67. The Blues took him in the expansion draft when the NHL doubled from six teams to 12, and he helped them reach the final in each of their first three years of existence, while winning the Vezina again at age 37.

Hall was in net when Boston's Bobby Orr scored in overtime to win the Cup for the Bruins in 1970, a goal that's among the most famous in hockey history because of the flying through the air celebration that followed. He played one more season with St. Louis before retiring in 1971.

“His influence extended far beyond the crease," Blues chairman Tom Stillman said. “From the very beginning, he brought credibility, excellence, and heart to a new team and a new NHL market.”

A native of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Hall was a seven-time first-team NHL All-Star who had 407 wins and 84 shutouts in 906 regular-season games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, and his No. 1 was retired by Chicago in 1988.

Hall was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league's first 100 years.

Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz called Hall an innovator and “one of the greatest and most influential goaltenders in the history of our sport and a cornerstone of our franchise.”

“We are grateful for his extraordinary contributions to hockey and to our club, and we will honor his memory today and always,” Wirtz said.

The Blackhawks paid tribute to Hall and former coach and general manager Bob Pulford with a moment of silence before Wednesday night’s game against St. Louis. Pulford died Monday.

A Hall highlight video was shown on the center-ice videoboard. The lights were turned off for the moment of silence, except for a spotlight on the No. 1 banner for Hall that hangs in the rafters at the United Center.

Fellow Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, the league's leader in wins with 691 and games played with 1,266, posted a photo of the last time he saw Hall along with a remembrance of him.

“Glenn Hall was a legend, and I was a big fan of his,” Brodeur said on social media. “He set the standard for every goaltender who followed. His toughness and consistency defined what it meant to play.”

AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen in Chicago contributed to this report.

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FILE - Glenn Hall, second from left, stands with fellow former Chicago Blackhawks players Stan Mikita, former general manager Tommy Ivan, Bobby Hull, Bill Wirtz and Tony Esposito during a pre-game ceremony at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Ill., April 14, 1994. (AP Photo/Fred Jewell, File)

FILE - St. Louis Blues goalie Glenn Hall, top right, is pinned to his net waiting to make a save on a Montreal Canadians shot as Blues' Noel Picard (4) tries to block the puck while Canadiens' John Ferguson (22) and Ralph Backstorm wait for a rebound in the third period of their NHL hockey Stanley Cup game, May 5, 1968. (AP Photo/Fred Waters, File)