Jimmy Butler‘s future has dominated the NBA rumor mill for the past few weeks. The veteran All-Star has handed in a trade request to the Miami Heat. As such, teams are racing against time to try and acquire him ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline.
Unfortunately for Butler, his three-year $146 million deal is making life difficult. The Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks are the two franchises with rumored interest, and neither have the cap space to get a deal done straight up. Therefore, any deal to acquire Butler will require multiple teams to be involved. And, for Phoenix, Bradley Beal would need to waive his no-trade clause.
During a recent episode of the “Kevin O’Connor Show,” the Yahoo Sports analysts proposed a five-team trade that would end the Butler saga and reshape some of the NBA landscape. The trade proposal looks like this:
Phoenix Suns receive: Jimmy Butler
Chicago Bulls receive: Bradley Beal + draft picks
Milwaukee Bucks receive: Zach LaVine
Miami Heat receive: Khris Middleton, Pat Connaughton + draft picks
Detroit Pistons receive: Bobby Portis
“A deal like that just feels like it makes sense,” O’Connor said. “It makes sense for everybody. The Heat get rid of Butler. Bucks upgrade from Middleton with his bad ankles to LaVine. Pistons get a versatile center for their front-court rotation in Portis. Suns get Butler. I think there’s something there, I really do, when you’re connecting all the dots.”
It’s worth remembering that this is a hypothetical trade that O’Connor is putting out there. However, for Butler to land with a second-apron luxury tax team, this type of framework is likely what it would take to end the Butler trade saga.
Jimmy Butler Holds All The Cards
Another important factor in Butler’s trade saga is his impending player option, worth $52.4 million for next season. If Butler declines that option, he will hit unrestricted free agency this summer. As such, Butler is walking around with a defacto no-trade clause.
If the veteran doesn’t want to be sent an interested team, he can simply inform the front office he won’t opt into the final year of his deal. No NBA team is going to pay Miami’s asking price if they’re going to lose him for nothing in a couple of months.
As such, Butler can somewhat dictate his next destination. He wants to contend for a championship, so it makes sense why the Bucks and Suns are two of the first names on his list.
Pat Riley Recently Stated Heat Won’t Trade Butler
On Dec. 26, Pat Riley took the unusual step of commenting on Butler’s immediate future. The legendary team president told the media that Miami wouldn’t be trading Butler ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
“We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear — we are not trading Jimmy Butler,” Riley said, per ESPN.
Riley’s statement is only a month old. As such, it should serve as a reminder of how quickly things in the NBA can change. Butler’s future projects to be away from Miami. However, that divorce may not come until the summer unless a mega deal like the one O’Connor has proposed comes to fruition within the next week.
