The Warriors had one route to relevancy remaining before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline — one last shot to find a second star to pair with Steph Curry for the last few seasons of his career.

On Wednesday night, they took it.

It took them long enough.

On the day that Kevin Durant said “no thanks” to a Bay Area return, the Warriors were able to get Jimmy Butler — who eschewed a San Francisco move earlier this week — to come west. It cost more than $60 million each of the next two seasons, and Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schröder, Lindy Waters, plus a protected first-round draft pick, but those were small prices to pay.

The deal had to be made, and credit to Dubs general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. for orchestrating it.

Trades might be hard, but for the Warriors, this trade was necessary and two years in the making.

Because the cost of not landing a player like Butler —  not finding someone who can reliably get a bucket opposite Curry in crunch-time minutes — would have been incalculable.

It would have turned the Dubs into the Jonathan Kuminga show in a year or two, and that’s the best-case scenario.

In the meantime, Warriors basketball would have been a slow, tedious, boring descent into the depths of nostalgia. The Forever Warriors era, if you will.

Ask the Giants how that worked out for them.

In other words, it would have sent the Warriors back to the pre-Steph era, albeit with much nicer, fancier amenities around them.

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It would have been a death knell to the concept of Warriors exceptionalism.

And while adding Butler doesn’t ensure anything for the Dubs — not the playoffs, not runs in the Western Conference bracket, and certainly not a title — they’ll at least have a chance at being interesting and competitive for the next couple of seasons.

That’s more than they could have said before trading for Butler.

After that, Kuminga (or whomever else) can take over the franchise.

Yes, the Warriors might not be light years ahead anymore, but after Wednesday’s trade, they can claim to be doing a version of another Dubs’ slogan:

They’re back on the two-timeline plan.

Between now and the end of the 2026-27 season, the Dubs are all-in on the Curry era.

That means Draymond Green, Steve Kerr, and now Jimmy Butler — the old guard and the new, older guy — are leading the way, and the team’s current status of mediocrity is truly unacceptable. Their deals expire at the end of the 2026-27 campaign

Then there’s the second timeline, led by the supposedly untouchable Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski. You can toss Trayce Jackson-Davis into that mix too, if you want. What’s that worth? Obviously not much in my book today, but things can change in a few seasons.

Yes, the Dubs went from a no-timeline plan — just aimlessly floating — to now having clear windows.

There’s the Steph window and the beyond.

You have to love the clarity, even if you don’t specifically love the trade made Wednesday.

So, will Butler with the Warriors work?

I’ll buy stock as someone who has pushed this pairing for months. Sure, I’m concerned about Butler’s lack of floor spacing, but I’ll take his basketball IQ, defensive prowess, and shot-creating ability (for himself and others) any day of the week.

What’s that worth?

Give me the long-shot odds on a top-six spot in the Western Conference — a real playoff spot — for the Warriors. With the right matchups, winning a round or two in the postseason is a reasonable expectation.

Of course, this could be a disaster: The eminently combustable Butler and Green in the same locker room? The Warriors should pay out Butler’s new deal by selling the reality show rights to that possible drama.

But disaster was coming down the pipe no matter what the Warriors did. Dynasties — or whatever the Dubs are these days — rarely fade gracefully, even as Curry does just that.

So the Warriors rightly decided to go for some upside in the years to come.

There were other options, perhaps better options, but those options weren’t coming to the Bay.

Butler, in fact, wasn’t coming, either.

Whether it was his paltry trade market or the Dubs’ fat contract offer (the only one extended his way, from what I can tell) that convinced him Golden State was the spot for him doesn’t matter.

The end result — Butler’s arrival — is all that counts.

The same will prove true with the Warriors in the weeks, months, and years to come.

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But as of Wednesday, those results will matter in the larger NBA landscape.

The Dubs fulfilled their longstanding mandate, and didn’t jeopardize their so-called future to do it, either.

That’s banner work, considering the circumstances.

And in a Western Conference that’s anyone’s to take (the Warriors have won two of three against Oklahoma City this regular season), Golden State now has a small outside shot at raising another banner.

Seeing as you can’t divide by zero — the Warriors’ title chances before landing a No. 2 to Curry  — there’s no other way to call it:

Wednesday’s trade was the Warriors’ biggest win of the season.