Top ESPN insider continues to push a narrative that isn’t there (yet)

The Miami Heat are reportedly “open to listening to trade offers” for Jimmy Butler amid his contract year. And ESPN insider Shams Charania has made it clearly known based on his repeated comments. Although, it seems like his push for this storyline hasn’t been anything more than glorified non-information that Heat fans have already known.

The problem is that this aggressively pushed narrative by Charania has Heat insiders questioning reports that aren’t even truly there (yet). Butler has been linked to several ‘preferred destinations’ including the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets.

As a win-now fit could make sense for the Heat star on those rosters, Butler has yet to make a formal trade request. Nor has Miami been actively shopping him.

Shams Charania jumped on NBA Countdown recently to continue doubling and tripling down on his reports:

“I’m told the Suns and the Warriors are believed to be atop (Jimmy Butler’s) list of preferred, win-now destinations if the Miami Heat were to trade him.”

(- Shams Charania)

Butler’s agent, Bernard Lee, put the internet in a frenzy over a week ago when he called out the insider for “made up” headlines. However, he has responded to the accusations. On a recent episode of the Pat McAfee show, Charania stated that Butler speculation is “probably the most vetted story that I’ve ever put out and I’m that confident in this story.”

Miami is still trying to build their continuity and make a leap in the Eastern Conference standings. All these rumors can easily take away from what this group is trying to accomplish. And although there could be some truth in Charania’s reporting, it seems like this is nothing more than the Heat doing their due diligence in being opening to see what type of offers are out there. Butler can opt out of his contract and become a free agent at the end of this season, and any franchise would explore possibilities to avoid losing a star player for nothing.

The Rockets have reportedly committed to their young core, and haven’t been aggressive in pursuing Butler’s services. His timeline at the age of 35 may also not align with theirs. Dallas seems to have no pieces to facilitate such a deal.

Phoenix, who is seemingly getting the most traction in these rumors, are very limited on assets. They only have one (2031) draft pick to utilize and are a second apron team— meaning they cannot aggregate more than one player in a trade to match salaries.

They would have to get very creative to make a Butler deal come to fruition, and convince Bradley Beal to waive his no-trade clause. Miami would be foolish to even take on his bloated contract amid his statistical decline and injury history. Unless the Suns are willing to part with Kevin Durant or Devin Booker (highly unlikely), a straight Phoenix/Miami swap involving Butler seems far fetched.

The Warriors still remain the team that could be best positioned to pull of such a trade with the Heat. They have draft picks and quality players to send back, along with providing Butler with a win-now window that he would be coveting.

At the end of the day, the Heat are still not actively shopping Butler and he hasn’t requested a trade. Unless that notion changes and the star begins to make things ugly, it seems like these repetitive ‘preferred destinations’ from Charania are meaningless.

This is a developing news story. Stay tuned for updates.

To check out our other content, click here.

Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!

Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!