Why it could still be difficult to trade Jimmy Butler before deadline after latest request

The long-standing standoff between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat organization reached a breaking point Thursday night after a second-straight poor performance. After weeks of no formal trade request, Jimmy Butler officially requested a trade to play “anywhere other than Miami.”

“Butler does not plan to furnish the Heat with a list of favored destinations,” ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported Thursday night. “He is open to playing anywhere other than Miami and believes he can make any team a contender — no matter where he is moved. He does plan to take part in all team activities and do whatever the Heat ask of him during this process, sources said.”

As we have belabored, Butler has a $52.4 million player option that he will likely opt out of at the end of the 2024-25 season. Previously, the four teams he was linked to on the trade market were the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks.

Now, Butler has opened the window for 29 other organizations. Though there still could be a challenge with trading Butler ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline–even if there’s more willingness to after Pat Riley released his statement saying no such trade would take place.

Could Heat have difficult time finding realistic suitor for Jimmy Butler?:

Butler’s recent request could, in theory, open up the trade market for him.

As much as it may sting, Charania’s report suggesting that he would like to play “anywhere but Miami” and Butler’s comment that he would “probably not” find his joy playing basketball with the Heat, as opposed to a different organization, is better than listing a certain amount of teams he’s willing to play for.

There is still a grey area surrounding whether that will open up his trade market, however.

According to Charania’s report, the Heat have had “preliminary trade discussions with several teams” without Butler while showing “no urgency in trade talks.” As of mid-December, according to Ethan Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports, the Heat haven’t received a legitimate offer for Butler; that can change in an instant, but that also may have not changed in recent days.

After Thursday night’s request, one could assume that further conversations would spark. In one world, his request–and recent play–may hurt the Heat’s leverage. Teams may not be willing to offer as many assets to potentially acquire Butler. It’s likely best for both sides to part ways sooner rather than later before this gets even uglier. But they still don’t technically have to do anything if they don’t think a potential package is in their best interest–even though doing right by his star looks better optically than not.

That said, it’s more difficult to make trades in today’s economy with the second apron.

Since the start of the 2023-24 offseason, only two trades with players making over $48 million have occurred (Damian Lillard, Karl-Anthony Towns). They don’t happen frequently, but they were both multi-team swaps before the season began that put the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks above the second apron.

Few teams are willing to exceed that punitive benchmark–and could be even more cautious for a soon-to-be 36-year-old who has an injury history who will likely opt out after the season anyway. Not to mention, he’s now had what looks to be four unfortunate exits from four different organizations–will another team be willing to take that risk?

In theory, multi-team trades should be more common. But since the introduction of the second apron, multi-team deals have also become more common in the offseason than before the deadline. Here’s a list of multi-team deals that have occurred over the last two seasons:

• Karl-Anthony Towns to Knicks (offseason)
• DeMar DeRozan to Kings (offseason)
• Klay Thompson to Warriors (offseason)
• Royce O’Neale to Suns (deadline)
• Buddy Hield to Suns (deadline)
• James Harden to Clippers (November 2023)
• Damian Lillard to Bucks (offseason)
• Dillon Brooks to Rockets (offseason)
• Max Strus to Cavaliers (offseason)
• Kristaps Porzingis to Celtics (offseason)

In seasons before 2023-24, plenty of multi-team trades happened before the deadline–including Luke Kennard to Grizzlies, D’Angelo Russell to Lakers and Kevin Durant to Suns–but the introduction of the second apron has made teams more apprehensive of how they build their roster if they’re not a sure-fire contender. Few teams are.

Could there be a shift in multi-team deals? Absolutely! But assuming there’s not, you look down the list, there aren’t very many clear trade destinations for Butler. There are currently 12 teams hard-capped below the first apron and four more teams hard-capped below the second apron. Of the nine teams above the first apron, they can’t take back more salary than they trade out; of the 21 teams below it, over half (11) are below .500, including 10 at least three games below .500.

Would the Heat be willing to take back both Wiggins, who’s making $28.2M and $30.2M beyond 2024-25, respectively, and Jonathan Kuminga, who will be a restricted free agent this offseason that could command upwards of $30 million per year, plus more in a deal from Golden State? Houston is already firm about not wanting to part with any of their core if they don’t have to; a Dallas’ trade would likely have to start with a 34-year-old Klay Thompson plus PJ Washington; Miami’s not doing the Bradley Beal circus; and it may be difficult for the Lakers, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Thunder or Spurs, among others, to get close to $48 million to entice the Heat to trade with them.

There could be decent options not mentioned above. But, again, it takes two to tango. Never say never; who knows whether an appealing enough trade market sparks for Jimmy Butler’s services for potentially half a season? The Heat would have additional flexibility to make trades and use its exceptions (mid-level, bi-annual, etc.) next summer without Butler on the books; what they would do with that flexibility would be a different conversations, but there would be more vehicles to drive as opposed to not.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

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