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Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler reportedly isn’t generating much interest on the trade market ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, “there isn’t a lot of interest” in Butler outside of the Phoenix Suns, who are struggling to find a way to make room for him.
Bontemps noted that the Suns are handcuffed by Bradley Beal, who has a $50.2 million salary and a no-trade clause. Until and unless the Suns can find a landing spot for Beal, they are unable to accommodate Butler.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst added that that Suns are hard at work in terms of figuring out a solution, going so far as to propose three-, four- and even five-team deals.
Per Windhorst, the Heat are “very motivated” to move Butler, however, Bontemps pointed out that the few interested teams outside of Suns have been informed that Butler would prefer not to play for them.
If the Heat are ultimately unable to get a deal done with the Suns, Windhorst suggested that Miami could circle back to the Golden State Warriors as a landing spot.
Windhorst reported Monday that Butler informed the Warriors he would not sign a contract extension with them should they trade for him, meaning he would likely be a rental should Golden State acquire him.
Butler has a player option in his contract for next season, meaning he can either opt in at a salary of $52.4 million or opt out and become a free agent.
Over the past month, the Heat have suspended Butler on three separate occasions, which speaks to the disconnect between the team and player.
The first suspension was a seven-game ban for conduct detrimental to the team after Butler publicly suggested that he wanted to be traded. As part of that suspension announcement, the Heat noted that they would listen to trade offers for Butler.
Butler was later suspended two games for missing a team flight, and he is now in the midst of an indefinite suspension for walking out of practice.
The 35-year-old Butler is a six-time All-Star who has spent the past six seasons with the Heat after stints with the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.
Butler has twice led the Heat to the NBA Finals, averaging 21.0 points per game in 316 regular-season games with the Heat and 24.7 points per game in 64 playoff games with Miami.
Over 25 games this season, Butler is averaging 17.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per contest, while shooting 54.0 percent from the field.
Given his experience, skill set and history of playoff success, Butler would potentially be a huge addition for any contending team this season.
A great deal of drama has surrounded Butler this season, though, which could be part of the reason why teams are reluctant to trade for him.
From Miami’s perspective, the issues between Butler and the organization seem irreparable at this point, so one can only assume that the Heat will go to great lengths to move him if there is any opportunity to make it happen.
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