The race to the NBA trade deadline could feature one giant obstacle.
Jimmy Butler remains at the center of the league discourse. Requesting a trade from the Miami Heat, the veteran forward just received his second suspension of the month due to conduct detrimental to the team. Both he and the organization appear motivated to find him a new home sooner rather than later, and there is one team that has indicated they are ready to make a splash.
The Phoenix Suns are reportedly on Butler’s list of preferred landing spots, and they made a significant move to free up potential trade flexibility on Tuesday night. The franchise traded an unprotected 2031 first-round pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for three future first-round picks, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. Many are now expecting Phoenix to use these picks in an effort to land the Heat superstar.
But here is where things get complicated. For the Suns to acquire Butler, they must first move on from Bradley Beal and the two years, $111.0 million remaining on his contract. Miami seemingly has no interest in taking on the 31-year-old’s monstrous deal, which means a third team would certainly have to get involved. Oh, and did I mention that Beal also has a no-trade clause? If the score-first guard doesn’t like what he sees, he has the power to shut the whole thing down.
To be sure, none of this is to say a deal is impossible, but it is to say that making it happen will be incredibly complicated. And that is where the giant obstacle comes into play! Putting this deal together is going to take A LOT of leg work and many moving pieces. Charania even reported that it could require up to five teams, while Keith Smith of Spotrac further underscored how massive the final deal could become:
โI was talking to a couple of friends in front offices last night and this morning about what this could look like and all that. And we were all kind of saying in terms of players involved, amount of salary moved, both just this year and in future years, this could be one of the biggest trades weโve ever seen,” Smith said on the NBA Front Office Podcast.
Whether or not the deal actually gets done, a potential trade of this magnitude has the capability of completely halting certain discussions around the league. Not only may front offices want to see which players are on the move or how the price of certain assets alters the market, but they may want to see if they can get in on the deal themselves! The third or fourth team in blockbuster trades like this can always end up with some pretty good assets for their willingness to help.
Should the Chicago Bulls Be Paying Attention?
With that in mind, I do worry slightly about what this could mean for the Chicago Bulls and their quest to be “sellers.” Might some teams wait to hold serious discussions until they see the Jimmy Butler fallout? We all know the Bulls don’t have the savviest front office, so the more time they have to negotiate the better. The last thing they need is for a phone line to go dead.
At the same time, what if the Bulls could take advantage of this Jimmy Butler mayhem? I don’t have the trade machine in front of me right now, but they sure feel like the kind of team that should be willing to jump in and lend a helping hand. Whether it be inexpensive role-playing veterans like Jevon Carter or Torrey Craig or starting-level assets on midsize deals like Lonzo Ball and Nikola Vucevic, the Bulls have the kind of contracts that could be needed in a time like this.
This may even be an opportunity to find the right Zach LaVine suitor! While I find it hard to believe his remaining $95.0 million could also be included in this deal (unless Miami potentially wants it to make the Butler money work), the Bulls should keep an eye on who is in talks to add Beal. If that team is interested in the Suns’ guard, who is to say they wouldn’t also have interest in a less-expensive and better version?
All I’m really trying to get at here is that big-time trades typically have a significant domino effect. And, if we’re being honest, trades like this Butler one do not even have to get done for some of those dominos to begin to fall. Considering where the Chicago Bulls are at as a franchise and all the talk that surrounds them around this deadline, there is no question they could be impacted. Whether it will be for better or worse, however, is something only time will tell.