Jimmy Butler has been in the news often over the course of a couple of weeks regarding his trade status and future with the Miami Heat. A few teams were reported to be interested in Butler, one of which was the Phoenix Suns, which engulfed the entire Butler trade rumor mill into one chaotic story.
Suns Interest in Jimmy Butler is Nothing More than Noise
The Phoenix Suns Interest in Jimmy Butler is Backed by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst
If two of the biggest NBA insiders working for the biggest sports networks are saying the same thing, they are either in collusion or have reliable sources, speaking reliable facts and truth about something that could happen. In other words, if Windhorst is backing Shams Charania, there’s little to believe that the Phoenix Suns interest in Butler as a trade target isn’t reliable. Several days ago, Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, rebuked Sham’s reporting, saying that the Suns were one of the teams involved. A week later, on Monday, Sham’s reporting was backed up by Windhorst on his Hoop Collective podcast. [39:50 mark]
“And by the way, I know that the Suns have interest in Jimmy Butler. This is not a controversial statement. It is not some sort of secrecy.”
Windhorst went further to explain the players who would likely be involved in a trade on Phoenix’s end.
“Jimmy would like 100 million, and I think the Suns might give it to him. Let me just say a few things. So, there’s only three players that the Suns can trade for Jimmy Butler: Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. That’s it.”
So, to sum up, A) Butler has interest in the Suns. B) the Suns have interest in Butler. If Windhorst is saying it, the likelihood of it being true is greater than not.
Who Would Phoenix Give Up?
The knee-jerk reaction to the question pertaining to who the Suns would give up in a trade for Butler is Bradley Beal. It would make positively no sense to trade away Kevin Durant or Devin Booker. On one hand, say Booker was the one to go; that leaves Durant with two stars with injury histories, and Butler is older and not the player that Booker is by a long shot. On the other hand, the Suns aren’t swapping Durant for Butler because the Suns will have gotten worse immediately. It’s unthinkable to trade away Booker and Durant. Therefore, from Windhorst’s perspective, if Beal is the third player that Phoenix could deal, it’s definitely Beal to Miami. That is unless a third team gets involved somehow.
Still, this trade scenario doesn’t make much sense in the grand scheme. From Miami’s perspective, getting Beal in return does nothing for them. In fact, the Heat would get worse. Pat Riley has bemoaned in the past that Butler isn’t on the floor enough due to health. So, Beal would change that? Beal is more injury-prone than Butler is. Consider that Beal also has a no-trade clause, one of two in the NBA. LeBron James holds the other.
All For Nothing
While Windhorst’s reporting should be trusted, all of this commotion will likely amount to nothing. By that, I mean a Phoenix and Butler trade will not come to pass. While it was fun to watch Shams go through his first real media circus as ESPN’s newest NBA insider, that’s all it will be. If Butler does get traded by Miami, the safe bet is it will be elsewhere. It would be nice to see him figure things out with the Heat. Jimmy Butler is still a perfect fit in Miami.
The post Suns Interest in Jimmy Butler is Nothing More than Noise appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.