The once dynastic Golden State Warriors have been rejuvenated with the arrival of Jimmy Butler, who has helped the team walk 8-2 since his trade from Miami Heat in early February.

Warriors’ Steph Curry spoke glowing about butler And his influence after Thursday evening’s 121-119 comeback victory against Brooklyn Nets and other Golden State teammates has since had nothing but good things to say about the veteran star.

Butler, admittedly, left a lot of his former NBA teams on less than desirable conditions, and there were some fluid concerns that he would not fit well in Warriors’ system. Ten matches in, however, begin to look more and more as championship challengers with Inside the NBA‘S Shaquille O’Neal, who recently gave the Golden State his flowers to pull the Butler trade off.

Shaq perfectly explained why Warriors acquired Butler was his favorite trade in the season so far:

“This is my favorite trading,” said Shaq Inside the NBA. “I know Jimmy should play with a new type of energy. He is a two -way player he can go out, shoot the three and play on the inside, Chuck mentioned earlier, that he has definitely been on the free throwing line. Hear, he plays with a chip on the shoulder. What he did in Miami … If they get the right matchup in the playoffs, I wouldn’t want to meet Golden State. “

After a red -hot start with Warriors, Butler has cooled down in recent weeks and has put single -digit point twice in his last five games. What the scoreboard does not show is his tall IQ presence on the track, which has facilitated the pressure on curry to constantly create shooting options. Butler consistently comes to the free-throwing line for light buckets-he has made 75-of-85 from the charity stripe so far-have also felt a fresh breath for the warriors.

As things stand, the Golden State would currently avoid the play-in tournament and sit in sixth place in the West (35-28), three games at the back of Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies.