NBA Season 2024-25

[Who]

The Heat are open to listening to offers for (Jimmy) Butler and making a deal if the proposal is right, league sources told ESPN, and Butler?s agent, Bernie Lee, has indicated in league circles that Butler is open to destinations such as two of the Texas teams (Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks) and the Golden State Warriors.  via ESPN

Reports out of Houston say they will not make a major move this season. They are happy with their improvement in the league and want to see how their young guys develop. I expect they would be open to a true franchise player. A younger franchise guy who is in his mid to late 20s. Not a mid 30s guy like Jimmy Butler.

It is hard to see what type of competitive trade offer they could make that would interest Miami. They would probably only willing to give Dillon Brooks, S Adams and future picks. I am not sure they would even up Tari Eason. Nevermind Amen Thompson, Reed Shepard, Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr.

Dallas do not have anything to trade. Their only young talent is Derrick Lively and Miami already have Bam. Not sure you give up Lively for Jimmy anyway. They lack quality veterans to trade for Jimmy. What PJ Washington for Jimmy? Nonsense.

Golden State looks akward to make a trade. Kuminga and salary looks a good offer but there is no good salary match. Their only big contracts are Steph, Draymond and Wiggins. If you have to give up Wiggins, are you really willing to give up Kuminga as well?

It is hard to see any worthwhile offer for Jimmy to make Miami pull the trigger even if they are open to the idea. Even if you take a terrible offer of mediocre vets & future late first round picks, in order to do a complete rebuild, that won't work well either because the team is still a ~~35 win team without Jimmy. They won't bottom out. Not with Bam, Herro and some good support players.

And I can't see any circumstances they part with Bam. A complete rebuild while keeping him looks difficult. Nevermind getting him to wait 3-5 years before the team is competitive again without Bam wanting to leave and go somewhere else.

I think they are best off sticking with Jimmy.

[Who]

An offer which might be interesting is Minnesota.

Julius Randle for Jimmy Butler.

Minny puts together a big three of Ant, Jimmy & Gobert.

Miami finally gets a PF to play next to Bam. Rebalances their lineup. Randle reminds me of when Miami went out and got Lamar Odom in 2004. That rookie D Wade team. I think Miami have pursued Randle in the recent past as well.

[celticinorlando]

Jimmy Butler is vastly overrated and overvalued by all 15 Heat fans. Please give him a massive extension that would cripple the Heat. The Rozier trade is already a bust.

Butler is 35 and plays when he wants. He talks a lot and doesn't back it up. Tired of his act.

[Vermont Green]

I think Butler is still good enough to put a team on his back and make a difference in the playoffs.  There is risk he won't hold up, but he is the kind of player a team will take that risk on if they feel they are close.  To me, the perfect fit would be CLE.  I don't know what the logistics of a trade could be, or if Butler would even want to go there.  Maybe Garland is in the mix, it would take more than that, but that isn't a bad start.  Maybe Garland and Okoro and picks?  (The trade machine tells me Okoro can't be traded until Dec 16).

Butler is scoring about 19 points on 11 FGA, that is very efficient.  Still getting to the line 7.5 times.  I don't know if Butler is overrated or not (depends on how you think he is rated) but he can still get you tough buckets at the end of a game.  What he can't continue to do is be the game in and game out guy that MIA needs him to be.  He won't hold up for that.  But on a team where his minutes could be managed, I can see him bringing a lot of value.

[Goldstar88]

Warriors should 100% trade for Butler. Move Draymond or Wiggins, Kuminga and maybe another young player. Heat should go rebuild and move butler now while he still has value. Him and Curry have 2-3 year window. Need to maximize it.

[Wretch]

Warriors should 100% trade for Butler. Move Draymond or Wiggins, Kuminga and maybe another young player. Heat should go rebuild and move butler now while he still has value. Him and Curry have 2-3 year window. Need to maximize it.

I don't think Butler has value.  Whoever trades for him will be locked into his salary demands when he becomes a FA at the end of the season.  He's at best a neutral value trade asset and as others have said, unreliable during the regular season. He's a player that is still good, but no longer all-star/all NBA caliber. He's simply not worth what he's reportedly been demanding in salary.

[Goldstar88]

Warriors should 100% trade for Butler. Move Draymond or Wiggins, Kuminga and maybe another young player. Heat should go rebuild and move butler now while he still has value. Him and Curry have 2-3 year window. Need to maximize it.

I don't think Butler has value.  Whoever trades for him will be locked into his salary demands when he becomes a FA at the end of the season.  He's at best a neutral value trade asset and as others have said, unreliable during the regular season. He's a player that is still good, but no longer all-star/all NBA caliber. He's simply not worth what he's reportedly been demanding in salary.

If he gets traded to a team that he wants to be on, it?s possible that he takes less. Porzingis did when he came to Boston. It does happen.

[keevsnick]

Its hard to find a trade for for Jimmy butler that is A) Good enough to view him as a guy to put them over the top, B) Have the salary and pieces to trade for him, C) Can pay him what he wants going forward and D) Actually make sense team building wise.

In broader terms, the NBA trade deadline is going to be ineteresting. There are so many trade restrictions around the league right now with teams hard capped, up against aprons or owing a bunch of draft picks. It might be hard to get movement, especially for a guy like Butler making 48.8 million.

[Wretch]

Warriors should 100% trade for Butler. Move Draymond or Wiggins, Kuminga and maybe another young player. Heat should go rebuild and move butler now while he still has value. Him and Curry have 2-3 year window. Need to maximize it.

I don't think Butler has value.  Whoever trades for him will be locked into his salary demands when he becomes a FA at the end of the season.  He's at best a neutral value trade asset and as others have said, unreliable during the regular season. He's a player that is still good, but no longer all-star/all NBA caliber. He's simply not worth what he's reportedly been demanding in salary.

If he gets traded to a team that he wants to be on, it?s possible that he takes less. Porzingis did when he came to Boston. It does happen.

This is Butler's last chance at big contract he's not taking less.  If he would he'd have signed with Miami.  It's interesting that 2 of the teams mentioned are in income tax free TX and the 3rd doesn't care about luxury taxes or salary aprons.

[liam]

Its hard to find a trade for for Jimmy butler that is A) Good enough to view him as a guy to put them over the top, B) Have the salary and pieces to trade for him, C) Can pay him what he wants going forward and D) Actually make sense team building wise.

In broader terms, the NBA trade deadline is going to be ineteresting. There are so many trade restrictions around the league right now with teams hard capped, up against aprons or owing a bunch of draft picks. It might be hard to get movement, especially for a guy like Butler making 48.8 million.

Butler for Paul George?

[Phantom255x]

The writing seemed on the wall for Butler in Miami. When he was mocking the Knicks and Celtics last postseason while he was injured after Miami had to play a play-in tournament because a lot of their own team was hurt and/or load managing, it definitely ticked Riley off. Pat Riley even went off on him and also Herro about it.

They haven't been able to reach an extension but I imagine it's because Riley doesn't want to give it to him. And honestly, MIA this year seems set on making another play-in (or a measly 6 seed). So Butler has one foot out the door. He may want a winning situation but idk if there's on who can realistically trade for him besides Golden State or Houston. I know he said he's interested in Brooklyn, they could make it work.

IMO Houston would be a nice destination. Gives them a tough alpha on their young squad led by Ime with a team continuing to grow and rise in the West.

[Phantom255x]

As if you needed more proof Bronny James was a nepo-draft pick, there's already reporting from multiple sources that if Lebron were to be traded at some point, Bronny would be included in the package heading to the team with Lebron 

If this also happens, what then happens with Reddick? He was obviously only hired due to being Lebron's podcast partner

[Goldstar88]

Warriors should 100% trade for Butler. Move Draymond or Wiggins, Kuminga and maybe another young player. Heat should go rebuild and move butler now while he still has value. Him and Curry have 2-3 year window. Need to maximize it.

I don't think Butler has value.  Whoever trades for him will be locked into his salary demands when he becomes a FA at the end of the season.  He's at best a neutral value trade asset and as others have said, unreliable during the regular season. He's a player that is still good, but no longer all-star/all NBA caliber. He's simply not worth what he's reportedly been demanding in salary.

If he gets traded to a team that he wants to be on, it?s possible that he takes less. Porzingis did when he came to Boston. It does happen.

This is Butler's last chance at big contract he's not taking less.  If he would he'd have signed with Miami.  It's interesting that 2 of the teams mentioned are in income tax free TX and the 3rd doesn't care about luxury taxes or salary aprons.

I don?t think Houston is a 35 year old Jimmy Butler away from being a contender, so I doubt that happens. They?d also have to give up major pieces to match salary. Dallas would have to gut their team to match salary in a trade for Butler. Plus they don?t have any promising young players to send to Miami, so that seems unlikely. Warriors make the most sense as they have several role players with high salaries and young players like Kuminga and Podziemski that the Heat would likely want. I doubt many teams are going to be lining up to pay Butler a $200M contract considering his age. He?s probably looking at a contract similar to what Jrue Holiday got.

[radiohead]

Warriors should 100% trade for Butler. Move Draymond or Wiggins, Kuminga and maybe another young player. Heat should go rebuild and move butler now while he still has value. Him and Curry have 2-3 year window. Need to maximize it.

Wiggins and Kuminga for Butler would be a really risky move for the Warriors. It would be a homerun for Miami i think.

[Phantom255x]

I give Orlando a ton of credit. Even without Banchero and Franz they compete every night and have a pretty good roster around them. KCP was also a very underrated addition. He functions like a Jrue Holiday in the 2020s, won't put up flashy numbers but does his job and knows his role and is still someone vital to have on a contending team (Jrue and KCP are the only ones this decade with 2 championships each, and on different teams)