The Cavaliers are seeking to acquire Bulls All-Star Jimmy Butler by putting together a multi-team trade, league sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein. Cleveland needs to get at least one other team involved to obtain the assets Chicago would demand and have been working diligently to do so, Stein adds. (Twitter links)
The Cavaliers’ high payroll, plus their lack of draft picks, makes it difficult to swing a deal for any high-level player. The Trail Blazers own their pick in Thursday’s draft and they also owe the Hawks a first-rounder in 2019. They don’t have any first-rounders coming their way.
It’s logical to assume they’d have to include Kevin Love in any blockbuster deal. Whether the Bulls would be interested in Love is unknown. Perhaps a third-party would facilitate the deal by taking on Love’s contract, which has three years and approximately $74MM remaining, though the final year is a player option.
The Suns might be a team that would get involved in the Cavaliers’ quest for Butler, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweets.
Butler’s name continues to swirl in trade rumors, even though numerous executives around the league believe Butler won’t be dealt during draft week. The Timberwolves, Celtics and Suns have all been mentioned as possible suitors for Butler. The Bulls’ asking price is high, as The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski noted, but there has been preliminary contact between Minnesota and Chicago. Boston has a bevy of first-round picks to offer the Bulls, adding another in its deal with the Sixers to swap the first and third overall picks, which was finalized today.
The Cavaliers have also been linked to the Pacers’ Paul George, who informed Indiana he won’t re-sign with the franchise when he becomes a free agent next summer. As is the case with Butler, the Cavaliers would likely to have to get a third party involved to pry away George.
This is gonna have to have some combination involving Love, Frye, JR, Frye or Thompson
Love would be amazing on the Bulls, the dude is being severely limited on the Cavs to being a shooter and rebounder. That was never his game in Minnesota, Butler actually fits the Cavs though because Butler can just focus on being a lock down defender instead of trying to be the first option that he is not.
Butler did mention he wanted to play with Kyrie earlier during the season in a ESPN show.
I wonder if Cleveland is desperate enough they would send Love to Boston, and a few guys to Chicago, and Boston could send out Rozier, their 2nd rounder in the 30’s, and the Lakers/SAC semi protected pick.
Why help Cavs? Just deal directly with Bulls for Butler. C’s are one of few teams with picks and players to make the deal. Let Cavs pay Love $75MM for next 3 years.
Your trying to bet them not help them come on man
Kevin Love? Also if Lebron is serious about leaving for LA that might work out better for everyone. Cavs get one more shot and Boston grabs a star and gets to keep both the nets picks and Jaylen.
The Bulls aren’t going to trade Butler for Love and a first rounder. It’ll take at least one more actual valuable player or pick.
LOL! Get Butler while keeping James and Irving while someone takes on Love’s contract. Snowball’s chance of that happening. Bulls are better off just dealing with C’s for a couple of first rd picks and a couple of players.
Love’s contract isn’t that bad (looking at you Allen Crabbe) and he showed last year he can be a winning component to a championship team. The bigger question is does anyone really wanna help the Cavs?
Why are you acting as if Love’s contract is an albatross? You know how many NBA players had at least 11 rebounds, 19 points, shot over 36% (shoot..even 30%) from 3pt line and 75% or better in FA? Kevin Love, Demarcus COusins, Anthony Davis and Karl Anthony-Towns. And most of them did it as the #1 option on their team whereas Love did it as the 3rd option. Love is only 27 and is on a reasonable 3 year deal. Why are people acting as if he’s some sunken cost or pariah?
Now, if Butler were traded then you would assume they want to rebuild but let’s not act like he wouldn’t be a valuable star on just about every team in the NBA.
Not an albatross, but that contract does not allow Cavs to take on Butler’s deal — why would teams do that?
I don’t understand. According to the NBA trade-machine, just purely regarding the nba salary trade rules, that deal can happen straight up. Butler makes $18 mil, Love makes $21 mil. It could work if inclined.
As a Cavs fan I hate the fact that we seem so desperate to make a change. a) I feel that the style of play is the problem and not Kevin Love. b) A non-post player that will demand 15-20 shots a game is not going to make a difference. c) Trading Love then creates a major problem as he’s our best rebounder.
The only player that to me makes sense to go after would be Cousins. Yes, he will demand the ball 15-20 times just as Butler or George but WHERE he will demand the ball is what I think makes the difference. Having a dominant post player that , btw has crazy handle for his size, is a great passer in the post and has developed into a good shooter beyond 15 ft adds context to the team and is a better fit for the style of play that LBJ and Irving play. Also, I think he would be a great player to have on the floor when LBJ sits because it’s then about post play. And we wouldn’t miss a beat on the rebounding. Also, I think he adds that right amount of nasty that the Cavs are lacking. We need to beat the Warriors by being highly skilled, physical bullies. When teams know they don’t have to worry about a big man in the post then they just have to work on perimeter defense and prevent you from driving to the lane for layups. That plays right into the Warriors style of defense. Trading Love for Butler, at best, adds a small incremental difference. Cousins will draw defenders and open up shots on the perimeter.
As someone mentioned earlier, if PG13 or Butler went to Cleveland they’d just have to accept being 3rd banana and playing lockdown perimeter D. Ask Klay Thompson if it’s a bad gig
I can almost guarantee you that Cousins wouldn’t be a 3rd wheel on the Cavs. In fact, the best thing about the Wariors is that they don’t worry about who’s option #1 or #2 or #3. It’s whoever’s open an that’s how basketball should be played. I think LBJ struggles with whether he should take over or defer but he’s never had as dominant of a teammate as Cousins could be and I think he would learn to throw it more often and ease his body and effort more.
The Cavs beat everybody but the Warriors. Why would they trade for a guy who would either only be able to play 20 or so minutes/game vs. the Warriors, or would be probably a larger defensively liability than Love (who wasn’t terrible defensively in the finals)?
I can’t see the Bulls trading with the Cavs unless there’s a 3rd team involved since the bulls need picks/young assets. Nothing the Cavs have helps with the long term rebuild trading Butler would entail.
Hawks make sense. Tons of draft picks the next few years. Love could replace Milsap.
Ideally the Cavs need to rid themselves of Thompson, JR, and Shumpert to compete with the Ws. They need a Paul George more then a Butler. They need someone to take the defensive load on Durant off LeBron and let him guard Dray
Butler helps on defense–he’s better defensively than George. But both are good defensively and George does probably match up better with Durant. Both are pretty good fits, though.
If they get rid of Thompson, they need a new center. Who?
If they get rid of Smith, they need a new spot up 3 point shooter. Who? (This one has a better answer than Thompson if Redick will take the taxpayer mid-level exemption for a shot at a title.)
Well, Cavs vs Warriors again. If Butler or George lands with the Cavs, the series is suddenly more exiting than it already is.
What if the Cavs sent a guy like Tristan Thompson to the Bulls instead, and having a lineup of Irving Butler LBJ Love and if the rumors about the Timberwolves being the 3rd team they could also look to acquire Deing from them to replace Thompson. That would be a scary lineup even though they probably wouldn’t have much of a bench with a lineup like that they wouldn’t need one. As a Celtics fan they need to take advantage by getting better in the Draft which is a luxury that the Cavs don’t have. I don’t think PG13 is getting traded to anyone except LA and if he does it would be for nothing close to his actual value because he has publicly admitted that he is going to opt-out of his contract and 99% going to LAL so if the Cavs can get him for cheaper than cheap than go ahead but SG is a bigger need for them so They are more likely to prioritize Butler over George in my opinion.
So you’re suggesting the Bulls would take Thompson for Butler?????? Crack is whack.
Read elsewhere that they’re interested in the Sixers as the third team, which makes some sense.
To make that work,
Cleveland gets: Butler (Chicago)
Chicago gets: Okafor (Philly), Henderson (Philly — he’s cap fodder, he’s got a large cap slot, but can be cut for almost nothing), Stauskas (Philly – necessary to make $ work), presumably whichever of the Lakers/Sac picks that Philly doesn’t send to Boston, probably another Sixers first rounder
Philly gets: Love (Chicago), probably a Cleveland first rounder
OR
Cleveland gets: Butler (Chicago)
Chicago gets: Okafor (Philly), Saric (Philly) Henderson (Philly — see note above), whichever of the Lakers/Sac picks that Philly doesn’t send to Boston
Philly gets: Love (Cleveland), & maybe a Cleveland first rounder
I wonder if the Lakers get involved. Don’t see why they wouldn’t. Maybe they give the Bulls Randle and the 28th pick or Randle and Clarkson or Randle, Clarkson and the 28th pick which may seem like a lot to give up for one player but not only does it net them a star player (Love) it also gets rid of some contracts and if they are able to land George in free agency next off season they can street Dengs contract. The Cavs get Butler in the deal and maybe they can throw a future 2nd rd pick at one of the other teams involved. I know might not work and I’ll admit it’s easy to play Gm on here but if I was the Lakers I’d try to get involved and see if they can make something like this work for them. My only concern about the Cavs giving up Love for Butler is that I’m not sure they really get a lot better with Butler over Love. Love is a beast on the boards and can easily put up 20+ points plus he can knock down 3’s. Butler is good but I don’t think he’s better than Love in my opinion. Yes he’s younger so you can take that into consideration but don’t think he is going to all of a sudden make them the favorites to win it all.
That’s nuts. The Bulls aren’t trading Butler for the 28th pick, Randle (who can sort of score and does nothing else) and Clarkson (who looks like a solid sixth man). That’s not even enough to get Love, forget Butler.
Also, to make that work under the cap, Cleveland would have to take Corey Brewer or Tarik Black.
Randle does nothing else? Hmmmm he’s averaged around double digit rebounds his only two season in the NBA so that statement is false. And yes I’m sure the Cavs would have to throw a future pick in for the bulls as well but I don’t get why people think the asking price for players is so higher. It’s insane to listen to you guys shoot down every trade offer everyone thinks might work on where but yet I either hear nothing better from you guys or I hear some absolutely off the wall Offer that ain’t even worth it. Butler is not Lebron or Kyrie, or Durant or Westbrook or Harden or Curry. He in no way should demand every thing the Lakers could possible throw at them. Randle averages a double each season, Clarkson is a very solid player when given time on the court and if you throw in the 28th pick plus a future first round pick from the Cavs I don’t see how the hell they can turn that down.
But yea I’m nuts because I’m not offering Ingram, the number two pick and Russell for Love while the Cavs get Butler. Let’s just deplete everything the Lakers have worked toward for one played. That’s nuts not my offer.
That wouldn’t be a good trade for the Lakers. Part of the point is there isn’t a good match for the Lakers to get these guys. I don’t have a better suggestion because there really isn’t one.
Griffin their GM just fired because lebron wants to be in on ALL decisions
Just get rid of Butler and everybody in the team they suck either way
breaking up the Pepsi team wth uncle Drew needs Wes and sign Walt
This is why LeBron can’t touch MJ historically….What’s the matter LeBron…your not good enough to get it done with two other All Stars???
Yeah i know he had Pippen, ut thats because he was a homr grown player….you never heard Jordan asking the Bulls to get him Barkley or Ewing or Mullin or Karl Malone…because he’d rather compete against those guys than play with them and just build a team that’s unfair to the rest of the league….Michael was a competitor…LeBron is an entertainer.
Yea sure, Jordan would got absolutely torched by the Durant Warriors you oldhead. Keep living in the 90’s where the number of athletic players I could probably count them on my 2 hands. Jordan played nobody on the way to his 6 rings.
They traded for Pippen and wouldn’t have won the second three peat without Rodman. Do your homework. Lol
They traded for Pippen on draft day so IMO that’s essentially drafting him and about as “homegrown” as one can possibly be.
I agree. As I also agree that Jordan’s toughest opponents were the Suns and Jazz but either way, he couldn’t have got the second three peat without Rodman. They let Horace Grant walk and needed him to stack up against bigs. I guarantee you after the Bulls lost on the playoffs when MJ first came back he was probably like “damn, I need some help.” May not have dropped names but still needed it without Grant playing the 4-5 spot.