A 25-25 record, months of emotional unrest and dwindling playoff hopes, things appeared all but over as the Golden State Warriors entered Wednesday evening without any changes to their roster. They desperately needed a move to bring them back to the running. Their star, Steph Curry, who’s been outspoken about the team’s struggles all season, needed some assistance.

Rumors were even swirling about the possibility of a Kevin Durant reunion, an exciting prospect indeed, given his three seasons with the Warriors, which resulted in two championships and two NBA Finals MVPs. But when the dust settled, surprisingly, Jimmy Butler made his way to the Warriors squad.

Butler and the Miami Heat, a team that had been caught in months of conflict between the disgruntled star and team president Pat Riley, agreed to a blockbuster trade with the Warriors on Wednesday. Butler was now out, and the fallout had become public. While the move electrified Warriors fans, it sent shockwaves inside the locker room. What happened?

On the “Warriors Plus-Minus” podcast, the Athletic’s Marcus Thompson asked his co-hosts, Athletic teammate Anthony Slater and San Francisco Standard columnist Tim Kawakami, to break down what the pregame atmosphere was like in the locker room for the Dubs. It was right ahead of the Warriors game vs. the Utah Jazz when these reporters noted the odd scenes involving the squad. They are never so much ‘on the edge’ as they seemed to be. One of them noted: “It was wild. I think my first two clues, well, it was definitely a different mood in there.” Yes, the sudden shift in the air was a hint.

Slater was out on the court watching warmups and working on breaking news of the trade, and Kawakami was inside the locker room for the 30-minute window when the doors are open to media members. One succinct hint came from Stephen Curry. “I see Steph [Curry] go out for his workout, then I see him back in, and it’s like, ‘That’s different. I don’t normally see that,” Tim Kawakami noted. At the same time, Steve Kerr goes to the weight room and starts gathering everyone. The 59-year-old head coach seemed in an intense mood, to say the least.

The insider continues: “Some people are going over to Wiggins. Wiggins is in the corner, keeping himself. There was definitely a sense that something was going on, and then Kerr straightened up and started to say, ‘Hey, everyone, we’re going to do something here.'” Soon the locker room doors were about to close, despite being in the open period as the HC was about to address the team.

This was the moment of realization for everyone present. “It was going to be something relatively large. It was going to be multiple players ‘traded’. That’s what I kind of knew at that moment,” the reporter noted.  However, Andrew Wiggins was on the court warming up, despite looking unsettled. Rumors were going on about him being traded away for potentially Kevin Durant or Butler. Meanwhile, Curry’s HC grabs Lindy Waters. The entire Warriors front office seemed to be present in the locker at the moment. But the biggest turn of events of Wiggins not wearing the Warriors jersey.

“As I get there, the first thing I noticed, was no jersey for Andrew Wiggins,” the reporters explained. “And then he goes into the Steve Kerr goes into the weight room. By the way, this whole time, Tim, I’m sure you can attest, Steve Kerr is, like, distraught,” Slater added. But, how distraught was the head coach? “You can tell he’s, like, teary-eyed almost,” the insider stated. And he grabbed Kyle Anderson off the weights and gestured, that said he was telling Kyle Anderson that he got traded. At that point, everybody knew what was going on.

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With the reporters waiting outside the locker room, Kawakami noted some Warriors personnel, including assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse, also waited outside the locker room, not wanting to interrupt the meeting. Once it concluded, the normal pregame routines were completely shot. Soon, the team announced that they traded Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, and a protected first-pick to the Miami Heat for Jimmy Butler.

Simply put Butler will pair up with Stephen Curry on the court until 2027. The 35-year-old power forward has signed a two-year extension, $121 million deal with the Golden State Warriors. But the trio were not the only insiders who were surprised at the way the announcement came. Shortly after the trade deadline passed, ESPN reporter Ohm Youngmisuk went on “NBA Today” and discussed what he saw from inside the Warriors locker room, too.

“I’ve been covering the league since 1997. I’ve seen a lot of crazy things happen,” Youngmisuk said. “Nothing like last night.” Well, so crazy were the developments that even the reporters were also affected. Neither Slater nor Youngmisuk ate their dinner! Looking at how things unfolded, some of you might recall the 2019 incident of Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes being traded to the Sacramento Kings.

As the fourth quarter of Mavs game against the Charlotte Hornets got underway, with the former leading 74-71 at home, Harrison Barnes remained on the bench as the starters walked onto the court. Having started the game himself, it seemed odd at first. Then the news came. Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle had explained the situation after the game.

“I got word of the [trade] during the game and so that’s why he didn’t play down the stretch, obviously,” Carlisle had said. “I had a chance to speak to him before everybody got in the locker room and thank him for over two and a half great years of being a model pro and being one of the most improved players in the game. I’m going to miss him an awful lot. We’ll miss him an awful lot, but I believe he’s going to have a great situation where he’s going.” Weird it was, indeed. But according to the insiders Butler’s trade even surpassed that. Speaking of Curry, the Warriors superhero also had a strange reaction amidst the intense pre-game situation in Utah on Wednesday.

How did Steph Curry react to the happenings in the Dubs locker room?

To begin with, Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson had their last workout session with Stephen Curry on Wednesday. “That was it. That was the last Warrior to go warm up with Steph,” the insiders noted. Interestingly, the weirdness of the situation was palpable because they got to know that the team did not have any pregame routine set for the day.

“It was wild. Yeah, then Steph goes back out after all that, and the stony face comes back out. Something had gone down emotionally, and then he tried to go through his routine. The weird part was there was no one else after him,” the reporters stated. It was probably an emotional moment for the head coach and his brightest superstar. Maybe they didn’t see this coming or maybe they did but weren’t prepared for the sudden goodbye. Yes, it was sudden, because well, the trade deadline ends on Thursday and the deal’s news dropped on Wednesday.

Well, that was intense, right? It doesn’t look like the Warriors locker room was ready for the big news. However, goodbyes were said and with supposed teary eyes Steve Kerr bid his farewell to Wiggs and Anderson. And just moments ago, when Stephen Curry was working out with them, did he imagine such a moment would come? Maybe yes, or maybe no, who knows?