Re: Jimmy Butler trade rumors
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2025 7:37 am
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.
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.