By now, you’ve probably seen that the Philadelphia 76ers may make a run at Miami Heat star forward Jimmy Butler, who’s eligible for a two-year, $113 million extension this offseason, should Miami decide to shop him.
Whether it should be viewed as a reputable rumor leaked by people close to Daryl Morey–or Morey himself–to try and muck the situation up for Miami is neither here nor there, but that was smoke drifting through the air.
In fact, it was reported earlier this week that the 76ers would be willing to offer Butler a max extension–with its cap space–if he was hypothetically traded to Philadelphia. That may be looked at as a big if, but one nonetheless.
Now, a new team out West has reportedly entered the conversation of willing to kick to can on trading for the 34-year-old: The Golden State Warriors, according to Warriors insider Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“If the Heat shop Jimmy Butler, I would expect the Warriors to enter the conversation to at least some degree,” Slater wrote Thursday.
Golden State hypothetically trading for Butler is more complicated than Philadelphia, which only has Joel Embiid and Paul Reed on contract next year with three tradable first-round picks (five once draft night arrives). Golden State, meanwhile, is $2.5 million away from the first apron and $13.3 million away from the second apron, per Spotrac.
Accounting for Tyler Herro’s $2.5 million of unlikely bonuses and the No. 15 overall pick, the Heat are less than $500K from being a second-apron team. Thus, the Heat would not be able to take back more salary than Butler’s $48.8 million, which would be difficult for Golden State to match without including at least one of Andrew Wiggins ($26.3M), Draymond Green ($24.1M) or Chris Paul ($30.0M), whose contract is non-guaranteed up until June 28.
The Warriors have perpetually near–or at–the top of the NBA in payroll for most of their dynasty run. But would it be willing to dip deeper into the tax with the infusion of an older Jimmy Butler plus Stephen Curry? Would it be willing to part with other valuable assets–such as Jonathan Kuminga, Gary Payton II ($9.1M player option), Trayce Jackson-Davis, Brandin Podziemski or Moses Moody–to acquire Butler, who’s coming off a sprained MCL and dealt with nearly a handful of lower body injuries over the last calendar years.
They also have to figure out what they want to do with Klay Thompson, who’s an unrestricted free agent, and Kevon Looney, whose $8 million contract is partially guaranteed for this upcoming season.
Not only that, but how would all of this interest Miami, hypothetically speaking, if they’re not willing to give him the $113 million extension? What type of assets would they be willing to take back and how would they navigate the tax with just Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro as their two-highest paid players?
These are all fun questions to ponder, though I don’t think this is likely. I’ve been on record saying that I want to see how this all plays out–it’s a fun conversation, even if it can be tough! That’s what the offseason’s for.
(P.S. I miss the Heat season ending in June … not the first day of May.)
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Meanwhile in Cali…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUc-6AXg1rE
Tell, me, is this somehow connected with basketball, or, maybe, accessing higher levels of existence?
Spring Break lull before finals, draft, trades, free agency, Summer League and Olympics.
pat goes cruising sun man goes bonging.sun man will be ready for fa and the draft.pat im not sure based on the last few years
at this stage of his career with how much $ he has made already and how many rings he has id think or at least hope winning a ring is more important than a max contract.if thats not the case get him off the team.extend 2 for 60-70mil leave some $$ for a fa or 2.how much fkn $$ do these guys need to live on
If Heat won those 2 finals trip with Jimmy its going to be a Heat retirement for him starting with this max. But that’s just me. And they did not win those.
The only thing this really shows is how difficult it will be to trade Butler to most teams and how risky and limiting it will be for our team to pay him what he wants over the length of his contract. I still think the Philly move, if it is legit, matches up best. Maybe we can get three picks and a decent player or two (maybe Reed and Oubre).Then we can turn that, with another trade or two, into a pretty good team, and one with an infusion of young talent too.
There is the same problem for any team in NBA. Jimmy wants max. If will force his way out of Miami, he l want max somewhere else.
So, I don’t think there is a team, which:
Jimmy is 35, he didnt play well most of the season, and playoff Jimmy didn’t show up this year. Jimmy knows that, Riley knows that, other GMs knows that.
Nothing will change this summer. Riley will say all good thing about Jimmy, Jimmy will say all the right things about Miami, and he will play as a playoff Jimmy till the end of new year, because he will play for his final contract.
I expect Miami in top 3 in the east at that time.
After that… who knows.
lol Mia not gonna be top anything if Jimmy is this teams best player. Playoff Jimmy, yeah right. This the same dude that missed the 3rd game of the season this year. Don’t let 30 discourage you into believing it will be hard to trade Jimmy, when there are plenty teams that can use a vet of his caliber. Hou clippers when pg leaves okc, Philly, sac NO who again own gm said they not running it back just insert team that hasn’t been past the 2nd round in a long time. Funny all of a sudden it’s gonna be hard to trade Jimmy, sounds almost like the Mia heat don’t have the assets. Now a year later they all of a sudden have the assets, it’s in this organizations best interest to trade Jimmy so you can move into where the league is trending.
Yes, there would definitely be a market for Butler that would bring players and picks. You won’t get a Mitchell or Gobert haul, but you’ll get enough.
Maybe. Still, I think there wont be much interest for Jimmy and high offers. Because his request of having max. will travel with him.
More fog around Butler.
GS wont send Curry, so Wiggins, Thompson, Green could be available, with second pick or marginal player or both as addition.
And, yes, it makes all sense in the world for GS to give Butler max. contract, to spend all of their cap space on two over 35 old stars playing till 40 years old.
This is an unrealistic BS. I doubt Riley or GS would spent a single second trying anything in that direction, and neither we should on this forum. Waste of time.
As SunMan pointed out, no GS trade works on that site. I tried it too, using anywhere from 4 to 9 players and no matter how I did it, one or both teams are over the cap and second apron.
Another nail in the coffin, from you and SunMan…
As Douglas Adams once said,
“A whelk’s chance in a supernova”.
There are other hungry teams with assets/young players/draft picks that Miami can either keep or trade to acquire better fits for the future. When one door closes another one opens.
My point is, that all teams has the same problem then Miami. To pay Butler a max. to keep him satisfied. Based on last year performance, I doubt anybody would do it.
There are a few I can think of…starting with Philly, New York, Houston, OKC and Clippers. Time will tell.
I looked at NBA Trade Machine. Golden State is over apron. Doesn’t work.
No klay or draymond
How does kuminga, Wiggins, and one of moody,podz,tjd and 2 to 3 1st round picks sound ?
kuminga untradeable hes a younger bam more likely klay wiggins
I would like to see Draymond gnaw at Jimmy like he did with KD during his stint with the Warriors. But I think this is just that, a rumor.
No Draymond, thank you.
I he wouldn’t be such a moron, he would fit perfectly to Heat.
Unfortunately, he still is. And he’s been one of the dirtiest players in the league. I never wanted Rodman either and he was a HOF level defender and rebounder.