After soft-launching a trade request from the Miami Heat last month, Jimmy Butler upped the ante Thursday. Following a postgame press conference in which he said that he wanted to get his “joy back from playing basketball,” ESPN’s Shams Charania and Brian Windhorst reported that Butler “indicated” to the Heat that “he wants the team to trade him.”
The Miami brass appears to be relenting as they announced Friday that Butler would be suspended for seven games and that the team is now open to listening to offers for their mercurial star.
Per Heat: “We have suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games for multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and particularly the last several weeks. Through his actions and statements, he has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team.…
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) January 4, 2025
Pat Riley proclaimed the day after Christmas that the Heat weren’t going to move Butler by the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline, but he’d hardly be the first executive to say one thing and do another. (Remember when Daryl Morey said he didn’t plan to trade Ben Simmons?) Butler appears to be doing his best impersonation of Simmons by quiet-quitting on the Heat, which might force Riley’s hand in the coming weeks.
Even if the Heat do decide to trade Butler, the Sixers seem like a long shot to acquire him.
Both the Sixers and Heat are currently above the first apron but below the second apron. That means both teams can’t take back more salary via a standard trade exception than they send out in any deal, but they are allowed to aggregate two contracts to acquire a bigger salary. That’s notable given the size of Butler’s contract and the structure of the Sixers’ cap sheet.
Butler is earning $48.8 million this season. Joel Embiid ($51.4 million) and Paul George ($49.2 million) are the only two Sixers players earning more than him. If the Sixers wanted to acquire Butler without including one of those two, they’d have to send out Tyrese Maxey ($35.1 million) and at least $13.7 million in additional salary. The odds of that happening are roughly zero.
Embiid isn’t trade-eligible until after the regular season ends, which leaves George as the Sixers’ only realistic way to acquire Butler by the trade deadline. However, if the Heat are balking at giving Butler a two-year, $113 million max extension, why would they be interested in absorbing the four-year, $211.6 million max deal that George signed with the Sixers this past offseason?
However, it is worth noting that the Sixers reportedly “tried to engage Miami on a Butler deal” this past offseason before signing George in free agency, according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Goodwill added that “Embiid wanted a reunion with Butler and pushed for it.” (This is not the first time he’s reported that, either.)
Embiid hasn’t exactly hidden his affinity for Butler since he’s left. In 2021, he told reporters that the Sixers “got rid of Jimmy, which I still think was a mistake,” because they wanted to put the ball in Simmons’ hands more. After the Heat knocked the Sixers out in the 2022 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Embiid said, “I won’t sit here and say that I didn’t wish he was my teammate. I still don’t know how we let him go, but I wish I could still go to battle with him.”
If the Sixers were genuinely interested in a reunion with Butler, the easiest path would be a straight Butler/George swap, with Miami also sending a minimum contract either to the Sixers or a third team. (The Sixers could absorb that player via the minimum exception.) If the Heat aren’t interested in George, the Sixers could try to cobble together a multi-team trade in which they acquire Butler and send George to a third team. Perhaps the Golden State Warriors or Sacramento Kings would be interested in such a framework? (Then again, why wouldn’t they just want to acquire Butler straight up?)
While both Butler and Embiid might be pining for a reunion, Charania and Windhorst reported that Butler “does not plan to furnish the Heat with a list of favored destinations.” He’s reportedly “open to playing anywhere other than Miami,” which should widen the scope of potential trade suitors beyond the original list of the Warriors, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns that Charania shared in mid-December.
Never count out Morey and Co. to get creative, particularly when there’s a star on the market whom their franchise centerpiece has spent the past few years pining for. But if Miami wouldn’t want George in exchange for Butler, the Sixers would have to canvas the league to cook up a multi-team deal that makes sense for all parties. Best of luck with that.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.