When Jimmy Butler crumbled to the floor on Monday night and started dropping F bombs as he held his right knee, which was confirmed as a torn ACL on Tuesday, the Warriors‘ season, which was at least starting to trend upward, ended. You have to wonder if the same can be said for Golden State’s Stephen Curry era. 

I know, on some level, it’s too early to start talking about finality for a guy who is still very clearly nowhere near his end as a superstar player. But we’re all thinking it. If the window for a fifth championship was still even slightly cracked, if only in theory, it has almost certainly shut short of two unlikely scenarios playing out. 

The first one would be trading Butler, which is unlikely but at least worth considering. Nobody is going to want a 36-year-old historically malcontent player who is on the books for almost $60 million next season but won’t even be able to play for the next 10-12 months, unless that team has its own crappy contract to get rid of. 

Our Sam Quinn outlined some possible trades that would fit this construct, with Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid at the top of the list. Personally, I think the Sixers are starting to like their shot with Embiid in the East this season — even if it would probably be smart to get off that contract before the next inevitable injury arrives. 

But let’s say the Sixers would be up for it. Would the Warriors? Almost certainly not. Embiid is due $59.5 million next season, $64.3 million the season after that, and $69 million in 2028-29 when he’ll be 34 and basically certain to be completely broken down. He’s barely holding it together at 31. Even making it the remainder of this season healthy is a long shot. And that’s before we even consider the fit of a lumbering big man in a Steph Curry offense. 

Davis is easier to envision. He’s also a long shot to stay healthy through a playoff run (hell, he’s not even healthy right now), but he’s expected to be back this season and he comes off the books one year before Embiid.

At any rate, a healthy, or at least playable Davis is interesting enough to pacify the puncher’s chance fans even if there’s almost no way he would actually stay healthy — to say nothing of the issues he would pose as a clunky shooter next to Draymond Green. 

Who knows if the Mavericks and Warriors will even discuss this deal, let alone actually do it. Either way, to convince yourself that all these pieces are just going to magically fall into perfect place, stay healthy, and deliver another championship run to a currently eighth-seeded team in a murderous Western Conference is a big reach. My dad would call it a pipe dream, and the older I get the more I realize that man is rarely wrong. 

There is one trade I can see keeping this window open with Curry in Golden State: Lauri Markkanen. This would cost the Warriors everything they have to give to the Jazz, but I bet it’s at least being talked about. Unfortunate for fans still clinging to the hope of a salvaged season, Danny Ainge shows up to these meetings in a ski mask and the Warriors are too prideful to get robbed. 

And so, if a Butler trade — be it for Embiid or Davis or, hell, a Kings package centered on Zach LaVine or Domantas Sabonis — isn’t going to give Curry a chance to win a fifth title with the Warriors, then his only chance at doing so would be with another team. 

Now, I have a lot of thoughts on the trading-a-franchise-icon front. First and foremost, you don’t consider doing it for a second unless the player has demanded out or the return is going to set up your next decade when your current window has closed. This is why Nico Harrison was an moron. The Luka trade didn’t check either of those boxes. 

And Curry means incalculably more to the Warriors than Luka did to Dallas. Trading him would shake the Bay Area and greater basketball world to its core. Having said that, I grew up in Northern California, have been a Warriors fan all my life and hold Stephen Curry, athletically speaking, in an almost religious regard. I wouldn’t have a problem with him finishing his career elsewhere. 

I’m a grown man with a family and bills. Sports entertain me. Curry gunning for No. 5 on the Rockets would entertain me greatly. Tampa Tom Brady was awesome. If Curry were to ever open that conversation, we can reopen the one about him possibly winning a fifth ring.

But we all know this would never happen unless Curry asked for it, and since Curry probably isn’t going to ask for it, well, it’s not going to happen. Every indication he’s ever given is that he places more value on finishing with the Warriors than possibly finishing with a fifth ring. That could change, of course. Curry is as competitive as they come. He’s still an elite player. The Warriors could still get a major return, much like Boston when it traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, that could set up the next era. Maybe a conversation will happen at some point. 

But until then, the best the Warriors can do it try to remain competitive in Curry’s closing chapter (nobody wants to see the final Kobe years with the Lakers). They may even still make a Jonathan Kuminga margin move at the deadline, But here’s the reality: The moment Butler hit the ground on Monday night a lot more than just this season ended. It feels likely that Stephen Curry is done chasing championships with the Warriors.