The Jimmy Butler trade drama has picked up as his suspension ends, but actually making a deal remains elusive. Let’s break down where things stand with Butler.
Pelicans register Butler interest
Brandon Ingram for Jimmy Butler?
Miami lowered the asking price for Butler and that had New Orleans calling and kicking the tires on a “swap of problems” trade of Brandon Ingram for Butler, reports Jake Fischer and Marc Stein in their latest substack. Ingram is on an expiring $36 million contract, which works financially for Miami, although Ingram himself wants to get paid with an extension/new contract and that is not going to happen in South Beach.
This trade sounds interesting on the surface, but is Is Jimmy Butler going to report to and be committed to a 12-36 New Orleans team?
If he does, Butler next to Zion Williams could be dynamic — if New Orleans re-sings Butler and the pair could stay healthy (good luck with that) — but this has to be a three-team (or more) trade to work because Butler makes $12.8 million more than Ingram, the Heat are restricted as a first-apron tax team (Miami cannot take back $1 more than it sends out) and the Pelicans actually want to decrease their total payroll because they are about $1.5 million over the luxury tax line.
It’s safe to call this unlikely, but it’s out there.
Heat drop Jimmy Butler’s price tag
The Miami Heat want out of the Jimmy Butler business, and if that means not getting anywhere near full price in the trade, they’ll live with that.
The Heat lowered the asking price for Butler, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN, which brought several teams back to the table, although league sources told NBC Sports there has yet to be a solid trade offer out of this (Phoneix is the only team to make a firm offer so far). The Heat are “willing to do more” to make a trade, as Windhorst phrased it. However, reports out of Miami make clear that the Heat are not taking on any contract that runs beyond the summer of 2026 (which has the potential to be a deep free agent class, and the Heat are on track to have cap space).
For weeks, the focus has been on Phoenix trying to find a multi-team trade (like a four- or five-team fantasy basketball trade) that makes everyone happy, but to no avail because there is a very limited market for Bradley Beal (who Phoenix would have to trade out in any deal and Miami has no interest in).
Heat suspend Jimmy Butler indefinitely
Jimmy Butler’s latest two-game suspension was set to end Jan. 27 when Miami hosted Orlando, but by the end of the team’s morning shootaround, another Butler suspension was in place — and this one is indefinite, with a five-game minimum. That takes the Heat through the trade deadline.
(2/2) The suspension is due to a continued pattern of disregard of team rules, engaging in conduct detrimental to the team and intentionally withholding services. This includes walking out of practice earlier today.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 27, 2025
Butler was informed at shootaround that he would come off the bench behind Haywood Highsmith, prompting him to walk out of shootaround. From there, the Heat suspended Butler.
While this is a battle of egos and wills between Pat Riley and Jimmy Butler, Riley wins this round because he removed the distraction from the locker room. If Butler remains with the Heat after the trade deadline — which is still a very real possibility, league sources have told NBC Sports — then Butler and Miami can decide how they want to handle the rest of this season.
What do Heat want in Butler trade?
Pat Riley’s first instinct is to play hardball, but he also wants the Butler situation to end. Which is why the Heat lowered their asking price for Butler, just don’t confuse that with Miami taking anything back. This is no fire sale.
Miami’s two primary goals for any trade: No long-term money coming back (contracts that extend beyond the summer of 2026) and players who can help them win now, not just draft picks. No long-term contracts is the big one, and it rules out Bradley Beal (who has two more years at $110 million after this season) and some of the other big names available via trade. The Heat also are not looking to tank, they want players to go with All-Star Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo who can help the team win now (it’s starting to find its identity without Butler).
The challenge is that 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 beyond that. Matching that salary in a trade without sending back long-term money is a delicate balancing act, which is why any Butler trade likely involves at least three teams and likely even more.
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 taking the court before his suspension 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, which is the sticking point for many teams.
Top Butler destinations
This is pretty much a one-team list.
Phoenix Suns
Momentum is picking up around a Butler trade, but that doesn’t mean it’s to the Suns.
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 deal. 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 is not Chicago or any other cold-weather team with a losing record — and that team will 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. This is why many skeptics in league circles expect Butler to be with the Heat after the trade deadline.
Golden State Warriors back in the mix
The Heat lowering the asking price for Butler brought a few teams back in the mix, and one of those is the Golden State Warriors, reports Kevin O’Conner, something league sources echoed to NBC Sports saying they seem to be the only other team showing “legitimate” interest (this was prior to the New Orleans report). That source added that it looks far more like Golden State would target Zach LaVine than Butler, seeing the athletic Chicago wing as a better fit.
A healthy and focused Butler next to Stephen Curry and Draymond Green sounds like a postseason threat, but it doesn’t make constructing this trade any easier — neither of these teams can take on an additional dollar than they send out because of the tax aprons and matching salaries is almost impossible. Detroit or someone else would need to come in as a third team. Plus, the only way this trade works is if the Warriors trade Andrew Wiggins away, but he’s got a couple of years on his contract after this one and that’s longer than the Heat will accept. There are three- and four-team trades that work, but those are exceedingly difficult to pull off.
Plus, the Warriors’ core doesn’t necessarily want a Butler trade. This note also comes from Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor.
“My league sources say Stephen Curry specifically has concerns about Jimmy Butler’s fit in the Warriors locker room, and Steve Kerr shares those feelings.”
That was what a lot of people around the league read into Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr all saying in the last few weeks 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.”
New Orleans Pelicans interested
As detailed above, the Pelicans are at least kicking the tires on a Butler for Brandon Ingram trade, even if it is unlikely. Check out the first section of this post for more details.
76ers longshot candidate for Butler?
Joel Embiid loved playing with Jimmy Butler. Could he quietly be pushing for a Paul George for Jimmy Butler trade?
Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports said it’s possible: “I’ve heard that Philly quietly could be a suitor for Jimmy Butler…theoretically, it would be a Jimmy for Paul George swap. I believe that Embiid is pushing for them to reacquire Jimmy.”
This is a long shot at best. For Philadelphia, this wouldn’t be about getting better right now, it would be about making Embiid happy and getting off Paul George’s long contract (which runs through the summer of 2028). For Miami, it violates their no long-term money demand, but is Paul George worth it? Considering he is 34 with a lengthy injury history, don’t bet on it.
Also, Butler and George cannot just be traded for each other due to the new luxury tax apron restrictions. Doing so would require a third team and other players, making it even less likely.
Still, it’s an interesting idea.
Beal won’t waive no-trade for Bulls
For a few hours on Monday, Beal going to the Bulls — clearing the way for Butler to go to Phoenix — was the hot rumor.
Then, just as quickly, it died. Beal would not waive his no-trade clause to go to Chicago, according to Fred Katz at The Athletic. Losing teams in cold-weather cities do not appeal to him, according to the report. That echoes what Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic, denying reports Beal would automatically waive his no-trade clause to get to the Bucks, Nuggets, Heat or Lakers, adding any such rumors were “created out of thin air.”
This is good for Chicago — why would they get off Zach LaVine’s big contract to take on Beal’s, when LaVine is playing much better right now?
Memphis Grizzlies lurking
Memphis is the one team on Butler’s “don’t trade me there” list because the Grizzlies have no intention of paying his next contract, and that next contract is the actual crux of this whole saga (Miami wouldn’t give Butler the extension he wanted, so here we are).
That hasn’t stopped the Grizzlies from “lurking” around this trade, reports ESPN. If Memphis could get off some long-term salary (Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard) and then let Butler walk after this season — freeing up money for the Grizzlies to re-sign Jaren Jackson Jr. — then they would be into a trade. However, what Butler would Memphis get? One that wants to prove his worth, or the disgruntled, disruptive version? Concerns about the latter should make the Grizzlies uncomfortable, but they are at least considering this trade on some level.
Toronto open to helping facilitate trade
Consider Toronto if you’re looking for a third team in any potential Jimmy Butler trade.
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.
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. This strategy may have worked because talks have heated up, but we will 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 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.
