Warriors dominate Jazz 140-124 as Giannis trade news echoes last year’s Butler moment

One year later, transactional drama again overshadows a game in Salt Lake City—but this time, Golden State gets the win.

A year ago next week, the Warriors were in Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz right before the NBA’s trade deadline. Before the game, news broke of the acquisition of Jimmy Butler, which seemed like it was going to save an insufferable season and change the trajectory of the franchise. And for nearly a year, it did.

On that day in February of 2025, the only thing that dampened the occasion was the apocalyptic collapse the Dubs later suffered against the Jazz. Even with a lot of the roster unavailable, it was perhaps the most frustrating loss in recent memory. At the time Utah was one of the worst teams in the league, and the Warriors blew a near-certain victory in the final minute.

Three hundred fifty-seven days later, the Warriors were once again in Utah set to play against a Jazz team still wandering the wasteland of the NBA’s tanking landscape, when some transactional news with the potential to reshape the twilight of Stephen Curry’s career was made public. This time no deal has been achieved, but Shams Charania’s reporting that Giannis Antetokounmpo is finally willing to agree to a trade, and that the Bucks will surrender to their competitive reality and maybe accede to trade proposals could potentially change everything again.

Endless digital ink has been spilled on Twitter and other platforms over the franchise’s folly in holding out for the slim chance that Giannis would eventually become available. To be fair, the possibility to flip Jonathan Kuminga and an indisposed Jimmy Butler’s contract into a younger and even more impactful player than Butler is a dream come true.

But in this case, the angriest Joe Lacob haters are probably correct: any successful trade for Giannis does not justify the poor process and opportunity cost of holding onto the majority of the team’s young players and future assets for so long. Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but if an addition like Isaiah Hartenstein is able to so fundamentally alter the ceiling of a team as talented as the Thunder, it stands to reason that incremental improvements to the roster before the Jimmy trade would have been worth it as well.

That all being said, there is even less than no guarantee the Warriors will be able to make a trade happen. Even with the Greek Freak’s current injury situation, tons of other teams will also be interested. There are also varying appraisals of the value of Golden State’s picks, and the most important factor with a player of that caliber will always be the star’s opinions and desires.

If the most likely outcome comes to bear and the Warriors aren’t able to trade for Giannis, the consolation prize from January 28th, 2026 will have to be a reversal of last year’s result on the court: this time Golden State left Utah without a new forward on the roster, but able to celebrate a satisfying, collective domination of the Jazz that resulted in a 140-124 victory.

In that victory Wednesday night, a different international forward was subtly the story of the game for the Dubs. He wasn’t the leading or even second-leading scorer, his +6 plus/minus was pedestrian compared to some of his teammates and he didn’t have any spectacular highlight plays. But Gui Santos’ exceedingly well-rounded contributions against Utah were emblematic of the entire contest.

Gui earned praise in this space a few weeks ago for the speed with which he plays, but he keeps rising to meet increased opportunity with growing confidence and an ever-broadening game. In SLC, it was Gui’s handle that most stood out. He doesn’t have the polish or burst of De’Anthony Melton, or even the craftiness of Brandin Podziemski, but in this game his extremely fluid and controlled ball handling was on display.

Early on he seamlessly reacts to aggressive pressure from the smaller Isaiah Collier with a clean crossover, gets into the teeth of the defense and makes the right read to find a shooter in the corner, ultimately earning a hockey assist.

Even beyond the pretty move, the most notable part of that clip might be the way he stays in control and in motion when his drive is confronted with help from Ace Bailey. Many other Warriors (particularly Podz and Moses Moody—who did have another incredible shooting night) get afraid when their path to the rim is eclipsed by larger defenders. Podz loves to come to a stop and then pivot before kicking out and negating any advantage he’s created. Here’s an example from last night that happened a few minutes before Gui’s more successful foray:

In contrast, Gui doesn’t make decisions out of panic, fear or risk aversion. On the drive above, he is calm when working through progressions as a driver. In general, when he decides to pass, it happens organically and with energy. When swinging the ball to another open shooter on the perimeter, he actively draws in the defense with believable, artful fakes as opposed to robotically following the set rules of the offense. It’s a subtle thing, but it makes the swing pass all the more effective.

Gui’s natural rhythm, feel and creativity shined in other places too. Admittedly this play is against Jusuf Nurkić, but the way he effortlessly uses a jab/drop/semi-rocker step to manipulate Nurkić’s weight without traveling and then has the quickness to take the center off the dribble is uncommon on this team.

He’s not going to be a primary ball handler anytime soon, but his handle might be smoother than Jonathan Kuminga’s at this point. His feel for the game and effort are certainly better, and if he continues to be able to finish, he should earn an even larger opportunity to playmake. At the end of the night, Gui had contributed all over the boxscore, creating multiple layups for himself with his handle, shooting 6-for-7 from the field and making two threes for 16 points, dishing out four assists and accruing three “stocks” in an Andre Iguodala-esque performance on the Warriors legend’s birthday.

Most importantly, Gui wasn’t alone in contributing off the bench. Even with another power forward born outside of the United States (and one-time trade candidate) returning to play for the Jazz in Lauri Markkanen, Golden State is the better team by a wide margin. The talent discrepancy manifested itself most noticeably without Stephen Curry on the court. The Warriors bench held Utah at arm’s length until finally putting the Jazz and the game away with Curry out of the game in the fourth. In fact, according to the NBCSBA broadcast, this was the first time in franchise history that five players off the bench scored in double figures.

For the second game in a row, Al Horford was not a member of that bench, as he’s been promoted into the starting lineup now that he can play enough minutes to both start games and be in the closing lineup. As critical as his steady presence has been to the reserve units as of late, his rim protection (three blocks), shooting (50% on threes) and passing (eight assists) accentuate the starters, and the more minutes he can play the better. The man he replaced in the starting lineup, Quinten Post, did nothing wrong to deserve a demotion, and he had a good scoring game, but Horford is still the better player and this change should be for the better as long as health permits.

Even with Al next to them, the rest of the starters didn’t start the game great, allowing Utah unfettered access to the rim. But then the Warriors (and particularly Steph) locked in, stopped turning the ball over so much, started raining threes and racking up assists. All together eight Dubs managed at least 10 points, and the team looked connected, capable and inspired after a devastating week.

While all caveats about Utah’s record and organizational desire to secure wins are valid, a win on the road in the altitude of Salt Lake should not be overlooked, especially considering what transpired about a year ago and the way the Jazz have recently beaten good teams. It remains to be seen if this win or the news that Giannis is available will end up being the most important thing that happened today for Dub Nation, so in the meantime let’s take joy in the victory in hand and the feel-good collectivism a game like this engenders.