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It is seen as an inevitability that Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler will be traded before Thursday's 3 p.m. ET NBA Trade Deadline, and ESPN insider Brian Windhorst said that his focus is solely on ending up with the Phoenix Suns, to the degree that he has nixed deals to go to other good situations around the league.
“Butler's obsession with getting to the Phoenix Suns is bizarrely admirable,” Windhorst wrote. “He has torched his relationship with the Heat and hurt the team's season. He has also blocked trade options that would be good fits, where he could have potentially gotten paid and been on a contender. But he's the rare difference-maker who can tilt the outcome of a playoff series and that comes with a lot of power. Butler is trying to use it.”
The Golden State Warriors are a team that sticks out as an example of a team that Jimmy Butler does not want to go with. When appearing on ESPN, Windhorst said Butler would seemingly like to end up on the Suns at any cost, despite the talks stalling, and even if another opportunity provides a great role and a great amount of money. He wants to team up with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker in Phoenix. This is greatly complicating the Heat's goal ahead of the trade deadline.
“The thing to understand about Butler is there's nothing that he wants to hear right now that doesn't include getting him to the Suns,” Windhorst said. “That is the only thing he's focused on. Honestly, I don't think you could offer him any amount of money or any role on any team, and hear that he's like, ‘Yep, I'll get on the plane, let's go.' And because he's got an opt-out in his contract, he has some measure of control.”
“The thing to understand about Jimmy, there's nothing that he wants to hear right now that doesn't include getting him to Phoenix. Honestly, I don't think you could offer him any amount of money or any role on any role & he's like, I'll get on the plane, let's go.” @WindhorstESPN pic.twitter.com/fTBRvDxnPR
— Dru (@dru_star) February 4, 2025
The Heat and Suns are trying to make some kind of deal work, involving several other teams in negotiations. However, if it does not work out with the deadline approaching fast, Windhorst indicated that the Heat could just trade Butler to a team without worrying about the contract.
“If the Suns, who have been trying to put this together for weeks, Ryan, can't pull this off, and I've gotta tell you, this has been quite the drama over the weeks, not just on what you've seen with the suspensions and stuff, it's been incredible drama behind the scenes as they've tried to put together the three-, four-, five-team deals,” Windhorst said. “If that all fails by Thursday, I think a team could just go make a deal for Butler and not worry about the contract.”
“If the Suns, who have been trying to put this [Butler trade] together for weeks, can't pull this off —they've tried to put together 3-5 teams deal— If that all fails by Thursday, I think a team could just go make a deal for Butler & not worry about the contract.” @WindhorstESPN pic.twitter.com/D56exsMMXs
— Dru (@dru_star) February 4, 2025
There are a lot of moving parts, and it will be interesting to see if the Butler trade to the Suns ends up happening by Thursday's deadline.
