The Kings have promised small forward Caron Butler that they will trade him in the near future, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). The impetus for a potential trade is to send Butler to a team that can offer him more playing time than he currently receives in Sacramento, Stein adds. A deal is expected to be completed within the next two weeks, and the Bucks have emerged as the likely destination for Butler, according to the ESPN scribe’s sources.
Butler played a half-season for the Bucks back in 2013/14 and was briefly on their roster following this year’s Ersan Ilyasova trade. He is earning $1,499,187 for the season, and his contract includes a player option for 2016/17 worth $1,551,659. It’s unclear who or what Milwaukee would send to Sacramento in return for Butler if a deal were to be agreed upon between the two parties. With Eric Moreland likely to miss significant time after suffering a fracture in his left foot today, the Kings could look to add some depth in the frontcourt, though that is merely my speculation.
The 35-year-old has appeared in just eight contests for Sacramento this season, including one start. He is averaging 2.5 points in 10 minutes per game on 39.1% shooting. His career numbers through 13 NBA campaigns are 14.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists. His slash line is .434/.349/.847.
Would the Celtics make some sense if they look to add a veteran to their bench and deal from plentiful front court depth? Any possibility he could be a throw in on a Boogie Cousins deal?
I think the Celtics would take virtually any throw in to make a Cousins deal happen.
Keep wishing. Kings would have to be blown away on a deal for cousins.
I assumed Butler signed with Sac to be a mentor and not worry about playing time, but I guess not. Should this be true and the Bucks are the frontrunners, I’d expect the Kings get either 2nd rounder or a little-used bench player, like Chris Copeland or Damien Inglis. Plumlee also an option, but I doubt Sacramento takes on a 4th Center.
Inglis sprung to mind for me, too.