{"id":113138,"date":"2024-12-19T11:20:17","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T16:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=113138"},"modified":"2024-12-19T11:20:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T16:20:17","slug":"jimmy-butler-trade-destinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/19\/jimmy-butler-trade-destinations\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Butler Trade Destinations – Who Can Trade for Jimmy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jimmy Butler<\/a> trade saga is bound to continue until the trade deadline. Recently, there have been many reports about Jimmy Butler\u2019s preferred trade destinations.<\/a> But can these teams<\/a> actually trade for Jimmy? What can they send to Miami? What about the Heat, do they have an incentive to trade their star forward? Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Butler Trade Destinations – Who Can Trade for Jimmy?<\/h2>\n

The initial report<\/a> was that Jimmy Butler had three preferred trade destinations: the Warriors, the Mavericks, and the Rockets. From there, we saw the Phoenix Suns and dark horse candidates like the Nuggets and Grizzlies. One thing seems to be certain: if the Heat decide to trade him, it will be to the West Coast.<\/p>\n

Why Should Miami Trade Jimmy?<\/h3>\n

When Pat Riley came out in the summer and declared they were not extending Jimmy in the offseason and wanted to see more commitment from the star forward, the writing was on the wall. Since then, Jimmy has publicly said he wants to explore free agency<\/a> in 2025. That means he will opt out of his deal in the summer and look for a longer deal. Now, that might be with the team that trades for him or with the Heat.<\/p>\n

For now, the Heat know they have him until the summer, at which point he can walk away for nothing. Here is the deal: as currently constructed, the Heat probably are not going to win a championship. Jimmy is the oldest player on their team, and their two other stars, Bam Adebayo<\/a> and Tyler Herro,<\/a> are 27 and 25 years old. That means Butler doesn\u2019t fit the Heat\u2019s timeline anymore. They are also $12 million over the luxury tax threshold<\/a>, set at $170 million for the year. In a trade, the Heat are looking for players that fit their timeline and some salary relief.<\/p>\n

For the 2025-26 season, the Heat are currently projected to have $191 million in salary, with Jimmy\u2019s player option included. If he opts out and leaves, they will have some cap space, being that the cap for that season is projected at $154 million and a luxury tax threshold of $187 million. Now, let\u2019s explore what teams can offer the Heat for Jimmy.<\/p>\n

Golden State Warriors<\/h3>\n

The Golden State Warriors are likely the best Jimmy Butler trade destination. There, he would instantly form a championship team<\/a> with Steph Curry<\/a> and Draymond Green<\/a>. The challenge for the Warriors is that they are an apron team, meaning they cannot take back more salary than they send. This is where things get tricky. Jimmy makes $48.8 million this year, and the Warriors need to package a couple of players to match that salary. The second challenge is Dennis Schroder<\/a>, the player they just traded for, cannot be included in any deals until the very last day of the deadline. The Warriors probably made the trade on the first day so that they would be able to flip him if needed.<\/p>\n

Any deal would have to start with Andrew Wiggins<\/a> and his $26 million salary, add in the $13 million Schroder makes, and we get to $39 million. They have to divide the remaining between two of their four youngsters, Moses Moody<\/a>, Brandin Podziemski<\/a>, Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>, and Trayce Jackson-Davis<\/a>. Podziemski and Jackson-Davis make the least money, so those two cannot fill the package. Last but not least, the Warriors will have to give up some of their first-round picks they own all of their first-rounders from 2025 to 2031, except their 2030 pick.<\/p>\n

Dallas Mavericks<\/h3>\n

The Mavericks are in the same position as the Golden State Warriors, as in they have to trade three or four players to get Jimmy. Two of those will have to be either Klay Thompson<\/a>, Daniel Gafford<\/a>, Maxi Kleber<\/a>, or P.J. Washington<\/a>. From there, they need to add players like Naji Marshall<\/a>, Quentin Grimes<\/a>, Dwight Powell<\/a>, and Dante Exum<\/a> to make salaries work. None of those names jumps out as someone the Heat can use to pivot and add him to the core of Adebayo and Herro.<\/p>\n

The Mavs’\u00a0draft capital <\/a>doesn\u2019t make headlines as well. The Mavs have their own first-round in 2025, 26, and 31. Trading with the Mavs doesn\u2019t give the Heat financial flexibility, high picks, or quality players.<\/p>\n

Phoenix Suns<\/h3>\n

When Shams reported that the Suns were among Jimmy Butler\u2019s preferred trade destinations, Butler’s agent<\/a>\u00a0called him out. Whether the Suns are an option for Jimmy or not, the problem is that they almost certainly cannot trade<\/a> for the star forward.<\/p>\n

The Suns can only do a swap, Bradley Beal<\/a> for Jimmy Butler, and nothing more. The challenge is Beal holds a no-trade clause. He would have to waive it first and then remove it from his contract so that the Heat would accept him.<\/p>\n

Unlike the Mavericks and the Warriors, the Suns are over the second apron and cannot combine more players in a deal. So, they can match Jimmy\u2019s salary with either Kevin Durant<\/a>, Devin Booker<\/a>, or Beal. Bradley is the odd man out, and they would have to add a huge draft compensation for the Heat to accept Beal and his remaining $100 million, plus a player option at $57 million for 2026-27.<\/p>\n

As for the draft<\/a> compensation, Phoenix has its own first-round in 2031, second-round picks from Denver in 2026 and 2031, and their own second-round pick in 2031.<\/p>\n

Houston Rockets<\/h3>\n

The Rockets are a rare team that can offer young players expiring contracts and draft assets. Because Houston is below the luxury tax threshold, they can accept more money than they are sending. Of all Jimmy Butler trade destinations, Houston has the most to give.<\/p>\n

Houston can give Miami financial flexibility, draft picks, and a young player or two. One of the ideas floating around is Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier<\/a> for Fred VanVleet<\/a>, Steven Adams<\/a>, Jeff Green<\/a>, and then some young players. VanVleet has a team option for next year, meaning he can be on an expiring contract. That would make Miami one of the few teams with salary cap space in the summer of 2025. They can go hunting and compete only with teams like Brooklyn, Detroit, Utah, Orlando, and San Antonio.<\/p>\n

The Rockets can also add some young players like Jabari Smith Jr<\/a>., Reed Sheppard<\/a>, and Cam Whitmore<\/a>. They can throw in juicy draft picks like the Suns first-round in 2027, Nets swap rights in 2027, and their own.\u00a0The question is whether the Rockets are willing to go all-in. Houston’s GM<\/a> has said several times this year that they want to see what this team can do. But they can also trade for Butler without compromising their future.<\/p>\n

Denver Nuggets<\/h3>\n

The Nuggets have two players they can offer in a trade to make salaries work: Michael Porter Jr<\/a>., Zeke Nnaji<\/a>, and one or two of their young players. Their draft situation is tricky. They own a first-round pick to Orlando, which is 1-5 protected in 2025, 26, and 27. Unless they change the protection or something, they cannot trade future first-round picks. Two years after they conveyed a first-round pick to Orlando, they own a first-round pick to Oklahoma. There are many protections and limitations to their picks, so the basic idea is they do not own a future first-round pick anytime soon.<\/p>\n

It all comes down to Michael Porter Jr.: Is he the best player the Heat can get for Butler? MPJ fits their timeline much better, at only 26 years old. Porter might offer a team more than being a third scorer behind Nikola Jokic<\/a> and Jamal Murray<\/a>. He can be a 20-point scorer, but sometimes, he doesn\u2019t know when to stop shooting when the shots are not falling.<\/p>\n

Memphis Grizzlies<\/h3>\n

Many might overlook<\/a> Memphis as a trade destination. Yet, the Grizzlies also have assets that can appeal to the Heat and make the trade work under legal terms.<\/p>\n

Marcus Smart<\/a> would have to be the odd man out in Memphis, along with Brandon Clarke<\/a>. Those two make almost $33 million combined, so Memphis would have to throw in some young players and expiring contracts to make it work. Luke Kennard<\/a> and Santi Aldama<\/a> are certainly options, with the latter being a great building block as well.<\/p>\n

While Memphis doesn\u2019t have players that stand out when you hear their name, they do have plenty of draft capital to throw in a trade. They have their first-round pick from 2025-2031. They have second-round picks coming from the Clippers and the Hawks in 2026, as well as a first-round from either Phoenix or Washington in 2030.<\/p>\n

There you have it: all of the potential Jimmy Butler trade destinations. Some of them are more likely to appease the Heat, while others cannot offer much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Jimmy Butler trade saga is bound to continue until the trade deadline. Recently, there have been many reports about Jimmy Butler\u2019s preferred trade destinations. But can these teams actually trade for Jimmy? What can they send to Miami? What about the Heat, do they have an incentive to trade their star forward? Let\u2019s take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":113202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,30,20,25,31,32,16,62,28,4721],"tags":[311,1842,352,409,1244,49820,142,4297,69,428,1223,4176,48],"class_list":["post-113138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-nuggets","category-warriors","category-rockets","category-grizzlies","category-heat","category-nba","category-suns","category-trade-rumors","tag-bradley-beal","tag-brandon-clarke","tag-devin-booker","tag-draymond-green","tag-fred-vanvleet","tag-jabari-smith-jr","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-jonathan-kuminga","tag-kevin-durant","tag-marcus-smart","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-moses-moody","tag-stephen-curry"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113138"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113203,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113138\/revisions\/113203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}