Jimmy Butler trade rumors

[BigLewy]

ESPN Insider article on league trade chatter....please no.



Phoenix's KD trade is still being felt across the league

Windhorst: The Suns traded their 2031 second-round draft pick to the Hornets as part of this week's Richards trade. Let's pause for just a moment to note that since Mat Ishbia acquired controlling ownership in the Suns on trade deadline day in 2023, and then immediately acquired Durant, he now has overseen the trade of eight consecutive years of the Suns' second-round picks (2023 to 2031).

Since Ishbia arrived, the Suns have also traded four first-round picks and five first-round pick swaps. If that math doesn't look quite correct, note the Suns found a way to trade two swaps on their 2026 first-rounder. (It might be the most complicated pick machination in NBA history, with five teams involved, so just trust us.)

Phoenix has also discussed using the one first-round pick it is still allowed to trade (2031) in various talks around trying to acquire Butler, multiple league sources told ESPN.

Bontemps: Though it's an open secret Phoenix would love to land Butler, the Richards trade is the latest example of the Suns under Ishbia's leadership tossing assets out the door as quickly as they can. Before this trade, Phoenix had only four draft picks in its possession over the next seven years: their first in 2031, seconds in 2026 and 2031 from Denver as part of some shrewd maneuvering by the Suns last June, and their second in 2031.

Now, they only have a 2025 second-rounder from Denver -- which they received from Charlotte as part of the Richards deal. (Right now, that pick would land 54th in the draft.)

The fact the Suns already had so little to trade, and that Richards -- a serviceable backup center but hardly a difference-maker -- cost them much of those assets had several sources around the league underwhelmed by the move.

Windhorst: One executive joked about implementing a new rule similar to one on the books about dealing first-round picks.

Named after former Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien, the rule forbids teams from trading firsts in back-to-back years, though plenty of loopholes remain. Stepien famously traded four consecutive years of first-round picks as part of three transactions to the Dallas Mavericks in the mid-1980s.

"Everyone knows about the Stepien Rule. I don't know how this is all going to play out, but depending on how that KD trade ends up, there might be an 'Ishbia Rule' proposed where new owners can't make a trade for six months after buying the team," the exec quipped.

In the Durant deal, the Suns traded four first-round picks and a first-round swap to Brooklyn, plus Mikal Bridges and the aforementioned Cam Johnson. The Nets subsequently traded Bridges to the New York Knicks for five first-round picks. That currently has the Durant haul at nine first-round picks for the Nets -- and that's before a potential Johnson trade over the next few weeks.

Perhaps more interesting, last summer the Nets used one of the Suns' first-round picks and the swap they got from Phoenix to regain the rights to their 2025 and 2026 first-rounders from Houston, where they had been since the trade that brought James Harden to Brooklyn.

Dangling those future Suns assets got the Rockets to bite and hand the Nets' picks back to them, wagering the Suns' picks could be more valuable in the medium term and clearing the way for the Nets to full-on tank this season.

If the Nets' tank ends up scoring big and they land Duke's Cooper Flagg or one of the other top names this summer, or perhaps a 2026 top prospect, those gems could be traced to the Durant trade as well.

Bontemps: It's interesting to look at the two teams that made this deal Wednesday, because while the Suns have churned through one asset after another across the two years Ishbia has owned the team, it has been the opposite in Charlotte.

Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin acquired control of the team from Michael Jordan in the summer of 2023, about six months after Ishbia bought the Suns. Over the past 18 months, the Hornets have picked up first-round picks by trading P.J. Washington and Terry Rozier, and added eight total second-rounders in other deals.

The Hornets are still in the nascent stages of building a contending team. But between these kinds of moves, plus the hiring of Jeff Peterson to run the front office and Charles Lee as coach, there is a promising long-term vision in place in Charlotte that should pay off down the road.

[Kryptonic]

Ugh….

Ishbia is doing it backwards…. Should have traded all of his assets for picks and built a fiscally sound, young team that could have grown together. Okc did it well and now the nets are poised to do it.

[Carno]

Ugh. Hopefully "discussed using the one [2031] first-round pick" means that other teams asked, and the Suns said, "Hell NO!"

BTW, I'm not totally against trading the 2031 pick. But it has to be for a quality young player that has some longevity. Not for a 2–3-year stint of a declining, oft-injured, troublemaking Jimmy Butler who isn't much better than a younger Beal. The value isn't there.

[ShelC]

New owner syndrome gone crazy. And James Jones may not even care about making the deal Ishbia wants because what are the odds he's here in 2 years much less in 2031.

[Mori Chu]

In the Durant deal, the Suns traded four first-round picks and a first-round swap to Brooklyn, plus Mikal Bridges and the aforementioned Cam Johnson. The Nets subsequently traded Bridges to the New York Knicks for five first-round picks. That currently has the Durant haul at nine first-round picks for the Nets -- and that's before a potential Johnson trade over the next few weeks.

This paragraph is really striking. This is how you do it. They double-swapped and got twice the picks from the same asset dump, the same rebuild. And now, even though they're bad this year, they are set to rebuild and grow for years. They aren't even *that* bad right now; their record is 14-27. We are 20-20. All those picks lost, all that money spent and all the tax penalties, all the hoopla, what did it buy us? Around 6 wins. We spent a decade to get 6 wins.

[Split T]

Brooklyn sucks and they still have to hit on their picks…Utah did the same thing and they are still bad. I get it, it’s fun to not have expectations and have the unknown ahead so you can make it whatever you want, but be careful what you wish for…you want 2015-2019 suns again?

[In2ition]

We can add a player to the Beal for Butler trade as an FYI…

Being in the 2nd apron makes it illegal to aggregate salaries(combining salaries to trade for someone with an even larger salary), but it doesn’t outlaw trading multiple players. If the trade is legal as separate trades, it can be done in one trade…

So Beal for Butler is legal and Dunn for a vet min contract is legal…therefore they can be combined into one trade: Beal and Dunn for Butler and a vet min.

Don't even think about trading Dunn.

[Kryptonic]

Brooklyn sucks and they still have to hit on their picks…Utah did the same thing and they are still bad. I get it, it’s fun to not have expectations and have the unknown ahead so you can make it whatever you want, but be careful what you wish for…you want 2015-2019 suns again?

This isn’t any better.

[Split T]

Brooklyn sucks and they still have to hit on their picks…Utah did the same thing and they are still bad. I get it, it’s fun to not have expectations and have the unknown ahead so you can make it whatever you want, but be careful what you wish for…you want 2015-2019 suns again?

This isn’t any better.

Not saying it is, but I don’t want to go from one hell to another.

[Split T]

We can add a player to the Beal for Butler trade as an FYI…

Being in the 2nd apron makes it illegal to aggregate salaries(combining salaries to trade for someone with an even larger salary), but it doesn’t outlaw trading multiple players. If the trade is legal as separate trades, it can be done in one trade…

So Beal for Butler is legal and Dunn for a vet min contract is legal…therefore they can be combined into one trade: Beal and Dunn for Butler and a vet min.

Don't even think about trading Dunn.

I wouldn’t…just saying it’s possible

[In2ition]

Ugh….

Ishbia is doing it backwards…. Should have traded all of his assets for picks and built a fiscally sound, young team that could have grown together. Okc did it well and now the nets are poised to do it.

If you have Presti as GM, this is a good plan. The problem that Presti has is keeping his team together, because let's be honest OKC isn't exactly a destination franchise and the owners have a history of not wanting to pay everyone what they are worth. If Presti would team up with Ishbia, this would absolutely the way to go.

[Split T]

We need our PG for SGA and picks trade…Booker for Amen Thompson and picks would be my choice.

[In2ition]

We need our PG for SGA and picks trade…Booker for Amen Thompson and picks would be my choice.

I don't think that Houston gives up Amen, even for a Booker trade, but I would do that too.

[Split T]

We need our PG for SGA and picks trade…Booker for Amen Thompson and picks would be my choice.

I don't think that Houston gives up Amen, even for a Booker trade, but I would do that too.

Ya the time they would’ve done that might’ve passed unfortunately

[Wally_West]

We can add a player to the Beal for Butler trade as an FYI…

Being in the 2nd apron makes it illegal to aggregate salaries(combining salaries to trade for someone with an even larger salary), but it doesn’t outlaw trading multiple players. If the trade is legal as separate trades, it can be done in one trade…

So Beal for Butler is legal and Dunn for a vet min contract is legal…therefore they can be combined into one trade: Beal and Dunn for Butler and a vet min.

Don't even think about trading Dunn.

I wouldn’t…just saying it’s possible

If the Heat want Dunn in the Jimmy deal, then their asses are the ones that need to be giving up multiple 1sts haha

Ultimately, I think Beal and ‘31 is gonna get it done for Jimmy.

[Split T]

I think it gets done too…though I do expect it’s gonna be more than just 2031…I don’t think we’ll move Dunn, but I can see Oso…or maybe something like Royce, Grayson, or Tyus elsewhere for more picks to include.

[In2ition]

We can add a player to the Beal for Butler trade as an FYI…

Being in the 2nd apron makes it illegal to aggregate salaries(combining salaries to trade for someone with an even larger salary), but it doesn’t outlaw trading multiple players. If the trade is legal as separate trades, it can be done in one trade…

So Beal for Butler is legal and Dunn for a vet min contract is legal…therefore they can be combined into one trade: Beal and Dunn for Butler and a vet min.

Don't even think about trading Dunn.

I wouldn’t…just saying it’s possible

If the Heat want Dunn in the Jimmy deal, then their asses are the ones that need to be giving up multiple 1sts haha

Ultimately, I think Beal and ‘31 is gonna get it done for Jimmy.

That's as high as I go. I just don't think they should trade Dunn, as he's a guy that will fit well on any team, imo.

[specialsauce]

You guys have to stop thinking we're going to operate like low level organizations like OKC.

We're a premier market now that players want to come to. We're going to be operating like the other big markets that can attract high level free agents. Draft picks and long term rebuilds are not going to be how we win.

When KD and Beal and Book are done, we'll snatch the next best FA because of the culture in the organization and lifestyle that Ish has promoted

[Kryptonic]

You guys have to stop thinking we're going to operate like low level organizations like OKC.

We're a premier market now that players want to come to. We're going to be operating like the other big markets that can attract high level free agents. Draft picks and long term rebuilds are not going to be how we win.

When KD and Beal and Book are done, we'll snatch the next best FA because of the culture in the organization and lifestyle that Ish has promoted

I hope you’re right but when I look at the lakers, they’re not doing so hot running that same playbook and would like to think LA is more fav destination than here (personally hate LA and wouldn’t trade the valley for it).

[Wally_West]

New hit piece on Jimmy today.

Teammates, coaches and staffers have already grown weary, sources said.

While Heat sources say they expect Butler to return Friday against the Nuggets and are fully prepared for him to play, there remains a palpable dread at what he might do and the environment the ongoing chaos might create. "I don't know how he can come back to this locker room," one source close to the team said. Said another, "We don't want him back."

If history -- like, say, in Minnesota in 2018 -- serves as precedent, the discomfort could deepen, quickly.

"Jimmy hasn't even really started," said one source close to Butler.

"If they're doing this transition to Bam and Tyler, Jimmy's like, 'Fine, do your transition,'" a source close to Butler said. "If [he's] going to be the second or third wheel, [he'll] be that in Phoenix to Kevin Durant and Devin Booker."

….

The Suns are in salary cap purgatory, having brashly plowed over the second apron with their trades for Durant and Bradley Beal in the past two seasons.

They have virtually no assets to send out in trades, and the only player whose salary matches Butler's is Beal, who has a no-trade clause and $110.7 million still owed to him. Beal, sources close to him said, has steadfastly maintained he wants to hold on to his no-trade clause, even if he ever approves a trade from Phoenix. He has three young children and values the stability the no-trade clause affords his family, sources said.

I’m 98 percent sure he gets traded by the deadline, I’m about 80 percent sure it’ll be to phoenix.

We’ll see