Ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, the Golden State Warriors made a big trade for former Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler. But in order to acquire the 35-year-old, the Warriors had to part with a highly impactful player of their own, forward Andrew Wiggins.

Other players and pieces from Miami and Golden State were also involved in the deal, which ended up featuring five teams. But the biggest names on the move were Butler and Wiggins.

Warriors guard Buddy Hield said he hated seeing Golden State move Wiggins after all that he accomplished with the organization.

“Especially with Wiggs, it was emotional in that locker room,” Hield said. “I was even more emotional because I wish it was me that got traded because Wiggs did so much for this franchise.

“For a guy like that, I hated to see him go like that because he’s done so much for this franchise.

“And I said, ‘Man, I wish that was me,’ because he’s put his mark on this franchise, and I know how much he meant to this franchise and the city of San Fran.”

Wiggins began his stint with the Warriors after he was dealt from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Bay Area in 2020. Across 307 regular-season games in his tenure with the squad, he averaged 16.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.8 blocks per contest.

The former University of Kansas star will be remembered by Warriors fans for years to come for his contributions in the 2021-22 season. His only All-Star selection in the NBA to this point came during that campaign.

Wiggins was then among Golden State’s best players during its title run in the 2022 NBA Playoffs. Of everyone on the team, he averaged the second-most rebounds and fourth-most points per game across 22 starts in that span, and his defense on Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum in the championship series played a key role in the Warriors coming out on top.

However, Wiggins’ Warriors tenure is now a thing of the past, and he is seemingly starting to get acclimated to playing for the Heat. After missing some time, he’s played in each of Miami’s past three contests and scored 19-plus points in every one of those games. Most recently, he dropped 22 points while shooting 9-of-17 from the field against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

But Wiggins’ scoring production of late hasn’t helped to stop the bleeding for the Heat in the Eastern Conference standings. Miami has now lost five games in a row after falling to the Clippers and sits as the No. 9 seed in the conference. The Heat also only have a two-game lead over the No. 10 seed Chicago Bulls.

Wiggins and the Heat will try to get back in the right direction with a win when they take on the Celtics on Friday. Boston suffered a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in its most recent contest on Wednesday.