The Jimmy Butler trade drama has picked up as his suspension ends. Let’s break down where things stand with Butler.
The Butler trade situation summarized
It isn’t that complex.
• Jimmy Butler wants out of Miami.
• Miami wants to get out of the Jimmy Butler business.
• Butler is primarily focused on getting to Phoenix (despite reports he’d go “anywhere but Memphis”).
• Phoenix wants Butler “bad.”
• The only way for the Suns to take on Butler’s $48.8 million contract is to trade away Bradley Beal and his $50.2 million.
• Miami does not want Beal. They have been very clear from the start.
• Bradley Beal has a no-trade clause and can veto any trade he doesn’t like.
• Phoenix needs to find a third team to take Beal, one where Beal is willing to go.
• That team has yet to emerge.
Everything after this — about Beal to the Bucks, about a five-team trade, all of it — is speculation and/or spin. And there’s been a lot of spin. Take a close look at the comments from news breakers driving this story and it’s not hard to tell which side is feeding them information (that doesn’t mean it’s wrong, just remember that everything you read is spin).
While the core of the Butler trade situation is simple, making it happen is complex.
Miami suspends Butler. Again.
Jimmy Butler is done with the Heat. The feeling is mutual.
Miami wants to move on from the Butler distraction, but while Pat Riley waits for the right trade to come along the Heat have again suspended Butler, this time for a two-game road trip the Heat are on. Butler missed a flight to Milwaukee, and while he would have flown up separately and played Thursday against the Bucks, the Heat took the opportunity to suspend Butler.
Miami HEAT Statement on Jimmy Butler:
We have suspended Jimmy Butler for two games for continued pattern of disregard of team rules, insubordinate conduct and conduct detrimental to the team, including missing today’s team flight to Milwaukee.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 23, 2025
Miami has now suspended Butler for nine games, costing him $3.1 million (although he likely gets a lot of that back once the player’s union appeals are heard).
Phoenix trades one pick for three to set up deal
There is no way Phoenix makes this trade unless they had another deal lined up that required it. This is definitely a trade to set up another trade.
The Phoenix Suns traded their 2031 first-round pick — unprotected — to the Utah Jazz for three first-round picks, all likely to be in the 20s (2025: least favorable of Cleveland or Minnesota; 2027 least favorable of Cleveland, Minnesota or Utah; 2029 least favorable of Cleveland, Minnesota or Utah).
This opens up trade possibilities for Phoneix (getting it around the NBA’s Ted Stepian Rule that a team cannot trade away all its first-round picks in consecutive years). It allows them to send a first-round pick — one of these, or what’s left of the swaps on their own picks in 2026, 2028, and 2030 — to different teams as sweeteners in a Jimmy Butler trade. The Suns now have multiple first-round picks they can move to try and make the third, fourth and maybe fifth teams in this Butler trade — the teams that will take on Beal and other players and salaries that have to be moved — happy.
Theoretically, the Suns could use these picks as sweeteners in sending out Jusuf Nurkic or Grayson Allen in a trade, but more likely, this is for a big swing at Butler.
What does Jimmy Butler want
To get to Phoenix. That is goal one, two and three, according to league sources speaking to NBC Sports. Was Butler wearing Suns colorway shoes not enough of a hint?
However, what Butler really wants is to just get out of Miami, ESPN’s Marc Spears said on the network’s NBA Today show:
“I was told today from someone close to the situation that his wish list is just out of Miami, with the exception to Memphis. But he does wanna finish his career wherever he goes.”
Which means, he wants a contract extension wherever he goes. Reportedly Butler is seeking two years and more than $100 million, and that is the sticking point for a lot of teams.
Heat players see Butler as distraction
As this saga has dragged out, the Miami Heat have lost 5-of-6 and fallen below .500 (21-22). The Butler drama is impacting this team beyond him not playing while suspended. ESPN’s Shams Charania said on SportsCenter that players and staff see the situation as a “distraction” and that there is “chaos” within the organization.
Chaos is a strong word, but it hints at who Charania is speaking to.
Butler tells Riley, Arison face-to-face: Trade me
Jimmy Butler has made it clear to anyone who will listen: He doesn’t want to play in Miami anymore. He wants to be traded — and before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. If not, he will use his $52.4 million player option next season to leave Miami and will not re-sign with the Heat.
None of that is new, but Butler reiterated in two face-to-face meetings last week, one with Miami Heat president Pat Riley (Shams Charania of ESPN had the report) and one with Heat owner Micky Arison. Butler is not backing down from his position.
News of these meetings leaked as part of a PR push by Butler’s backers to suggest that the Heat were not aggressive enough in finding a trade. Maybe this strategy worked because talks have heated up. So, we wait to see if it is enough.
Butler, not the easiest teammate to deal with
Think about how bad things have gotten that Butler’s teammates in Miami that one would tell ESPN, “We don’t want him back.” If you ever wonder why Butler’s trade market is so small, start with that in mind.
Recently, Butler’s confidants pushed the idea that the Heat were not being aggressive enough, but Miami knows how to play the public relations game, too, so it’s not a coincidence that “Jimmy Butler is a diva” leaks are increased as everything dragged out.
Diva, as in during the NBA Finals in 2023, stayed on his own in a mansion 30 miles away in Boulder rather than a hotel in downtown Dever like the rest of the team. Diva as in occasionally skipping out on morning shootarounds, insisting on private flights separate from Miami’s team charter, and enough other stuff that former Miami player Tim Hardaway Sr. told Sirius XM NBA Radio that Pat Riley sent a 10-page letter to the players’ association detailing Butler’s issues, reports Marc Stein in his newsletter.
Again, this is not new news around the league and part of the reason teams are hesitant to get into the Butler business.
What do Heat want in Butler trade?
Pat Riley is waiting for just the right trade.
This is not a fire sale. Miami’s two primary goals for any trade are acquiring win-now players who can help them this season and next (not just picks and young players) and taking back as little long-term money as possible. If Miami makes a deal, it wants the flexibility to rebuild around Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro without being anchored down by another long-term big contract.
The challenge is Butler is making $48.8 million this season with a player option for $52.4 million next season — and the 35-year-old wants an extension (he could have that tacked on at the end of this contract taking him to age 38, or he could opt out of next season’s contract and sign for two years at whatever number, he wants more than $100 million, taking him to his age 37 season).
To trade for Butler means teams have to send another expensive player back to Miami, or a team will have to trade four or five players to make it work. If a trade happens, it likely ends up a three- or four-team trade. Which are incredibly challenging to put together (both financially and in making everybody happy).
Top Butler destinations
This is pretty much a one-team list.
Phoenix Suns
As noted above, momentum is picking up around a potential Butler trade to Phoenix, but that doesn’t mean it will happen.
Phoenix wants Butler “bad,” and there are good basketball reasons for Butler to want to go to the Suns. Teaming up with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker is a no-brainer. Plus, the Suns lack a certain level of toughness, this is not a team with a lot of dog in it, and Butler would bring that. If Butler were to land in Phoenix, it wouldn’t make them an automatic contender, but it might get them to the level of a team like Memphis (third in the West), which gives them a puncher’s chance in the playoffs. That’s more of a chance than they have right now.
To be clear, Butler mostly wants to get to Phoenix because its owner, Mat Ishbia, has suggested he would give Butler the kind of extension he seeks.
The problem continues to be making this trade work. As noted above, to make this trade the Suns have to trade away Bradley Beal, who has a no-trade clause and can veto any trade. Miami doesn’t want him. That means bringing in at least a third team (maybe four or five) into a more complex trade that gets Beal to a desired destination, and that team is going to want first-round picks as sweeteners. Throw in the complexities of the luxury tax aprons and their trade restrictions — Phoenix cannot bring in $1 more than it sends out and cannot aggregate salaries to send out, Miami can’t take on additional money either — and this becomes very difficult to pull off. Which is why there are many skeptics in league circles, as mentioned above, who expect Butler to be with the Heat after the trade deadline.
Are Milwaukee Bucks interested in Beal?
It depends on who you ask.
Here is what Chris Haynes reported:
“Contrary to popular belief, I was just informed that the Milwaukee Bucks have not inquired about Phoenix Suns’ star Bradley Beal. In fact, it was explained to me that a connection between the two is nonexistent. So if Phoenix is able to acquire Jimmy Butler, it would not come via the Bucks taking on the star guard.”
Add to that Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, denied reports Beal would waive his no-trade clause to get to the Bucks, Nuggets, Heat or Lakers and any such rumors were “created out of thin air,” he told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic.
The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie says the Bucks are open to exploring trades for a star like Beal or Chicago’s Zach LaVine, but things are not far down the road, just exploratory.
Meanwhile, over at ESPN, Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst report the Bucks are willing to look at trading away Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton to help Milwaukee land an “impact player” in a trade. The Bucks absolutely would be willing to move on from Connaughton in the right deal that would get them below the second apron of the luxury tax.
Any Milwaukee trade is difficult to make because the Bucks are over the second luxury tax apron and face a host of restrictions on any deal (they can’t take back $1 more than they send out, they can’t aggregate players, and more).
As a reminder, Beal is a 31-year-old having a down season — he was just benched in favor of a rookie — and has two years and $110 million remaining on his contract after this season. On a purely basketball level, bringing Beal to Milwaukee adds firepower on offense, although the defense of Beal and Damian Lillard playing next to each other might kill any championship dreams.
Toronto open to helping facilitate trade
If you’re looking for a third team in any potential Jimmy Butler trade, consider Toronto.
The Raptors don’t want to land Butler (they couldn’t re-sign him and he’s redundant with the talent they like on their roster anyway), but they are willing to take on a “bad” contract for a year if it comes with enough draft picks to make it worthwhile, reports Doug Smith at the Toronto Star. This shouldn’t be a shock, Masai Ujiri has at his disposal some expiring contracts (Bruce Brown, Chris Boucher and Davion Mitchell) of various sizes that could see the player moved to facilitate the right deal.
Toronto is also checking the market to trade those three players outright.
Golden State Warriors not interested
Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr all came out this week and said some variation of this Green quote:
“The beautiful part about being in the space that we’re in is, Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and myself all disagree with mortgaging off the future of this organization, saying that we’re going for it right now, Bad teams do that. Bad organizations do that. We’re not neither one.”
The best way to interpret that: Don’t trade for Jimmy Butler (or Zach LaVine). The trio is right, the Warriors are not a team that is one player away and unless there is a top 5-10 player in the league who is under 30 on the market (there is not), then don’t blow things up.
Warriors management was already on the same page, quietly saying there were three reasons they didn’t want to get into the Jimmy Butler business: Butler’s age (35), his injury history, and price tag (the Warriors would have to send out either Draymond Green or Andrew Wiggins, plus Jonathan Kuminga and at least two more players, then have to pay Butler next summer with a massive new contract).
What the Warriors are thinking echoes what a lot of teams are thinking.
What happened between Jimmy Butler and Pat Riley?
This entire saga is all about the money. Don’t pretend it’s about anything else.
Things fell apart between Butler and the Heat when Butler wanted to discuss a contract extension after last season, ideally with him opting out of his $52.4 million for next season to get two years, $112.6 million. Pat Riley emphatically shot that down when talking after last season.
“That’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless you have somebody who’s going to be there and available every single night. That’s the truth,” Riley said. Butler played 60 games last season and was out for the team’s playoff series against the Celtics.
Butler told the Washington Post this week he still believes he’s in his prime.
It’s that simple: Butler wants to be paid, but the Heat don’t want to do it, so he wants to trade to a place where he thinks he will be paid.
How old is Jimmy Butler?
He is 35 years old and will turn 36 before training camp opens next season. This is his 14th season in the league.
