Jimmy Butler

Pacific Notes: Butler, Simmons, Bogdanovic, Ellis

Draymond Green called new teammate Jimmy Butler a “franchise changer” after the Warriors withstood a late Rockets rally in Thursday’s win at Houston, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Golden State, which led by as many as 24 points, was only ahead by four when Butler returned to the game with 4:42 remaining. He helped lead a 9-2 run that gave the Warriors a much-needed win heading into the All-Star break.

“He’s a franchise changer,” Green said. “He’s done that everywhere he’s gone and he is helping revitalize what we got here. The belief amongst this team, now that he’s arrived, as opposed to what it was before he got here, it’s night and day.”

Butler was the team’s major addition at last week’s trade deadline after a long search to find another scorer to take some of the burden off Stephen Curry. He contributed 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists on Thursday, as Golden State is now 3-1 in the four games he has played and looks ready to move up the standings after the break ends.

“Jimmy, he’s a real deal,” coach Steve Kerr said. “I mean, just a complete basketball player, methodical, under control all the time, plays at his own pace, never turns it over, sees the game and then can get to the line frequently. Great closer, not in the traditional sense where he’s going to be Kevin Durant and make four straight mid-range jumpers, but it’s more of a complete game. Get to the line, make the right pass, get somebody else an open look, get a defensive stop, get a rebound. He’s a fantastic player.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Ben Simmons had an impressive debut with the Clippers in Thursday’s win at Utah, delivering 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals in 27 minutes off the bench. Coach Tyronn Lue praised the former All-Star for fitting in quickly in his first game with his new team, relays Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter video link). “I thought he did a great job, just reading the game, his IQ, making the right play, aggressive to the basket,” Lue said.
  • Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was acquired in a trade with Atlanta, made his Clippers debut on Wednesday, per Anthony DeLeon of The Orange County Register. The veteran shooter described the experience as “a new journey” and said he’s excited to play alongside Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.
  • Keon Ellis has played an important role in the Kings‘ recent surge, notes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. The third-year guard scored 27 points off the bench in Wednesday’s win over New Orleans.

Warriors Notes: Kuminga, Butler, Expectations, Curry

Acquiring and extending Jimmy Butler added a significant chunk of money to the Warriors‘ payroll for the next two seasons after this one, with Butler set to earn approximately $26MM more per year than Andrew Wiggins would have. With that in mind, Anthony Slater of The Athletic asked team owner Joe Lacob whether the trade and extension for Butler will complicate Golden State’s ability to re-sign Jonathan Kuminga during the 2025 offseason.

“Why?” Lacob said. After Slater pointed to the salary numbers noted above, Lacob replied, “Yeah, so?”

In other words, the addition of Butler hasn’t diminished the Warriors’ interest in a new deal with Kuminga, according to the club’s owner.

“Absolutely,” Lacob said when asked directly whether Golden State plans to pay what it takes to retain the restricted free agent forward. “One hundred percent. Are you kidding me? I love that guy. We love him.”

Kuminga’s name came up last week when the Warriors were rumored to be in pursuit of Suns forward Kevin Durant. Reporting indicated that the teams discussed a deal that would have sent Kuminga to Phoenix as part of a package for Durant.

Although Lacob couldn’t – and wouldn’t – discuss those negotiations publicly, he suggested that Golden State would only have considered parting with Kuminga if the club absolutely had to in order to acquire a star player.

“Anybody can be traded,” Lacob said. “Anybody. Well, almost anybody. But we would never do that unless it was something incredibly significant. Incredibly significant. I think players understand that.”

Here’s more on the Warriors:

  • Kuminga referred to the trade for Butler as “great for us,” according to Slater. “I think it’s actually great for me, being around him, trying to pick up some of the stuff he does,” Kuminga said. “I feel like I see myself kind of like having a similar type of game.”
  • Kuminga, who has been out since January 4 due to a sprained right ankle, is expected to remain sidelined when the Warriors resume play following the All-Star break, per head coach Steve Kerr. “I wouldn’t anticipate him playing those first few games right after the break,” Kerr said on Monday (story via The Associated Press).
  • The Warriors, who will enter Wednesday’s action ranked 10th in the West at 27-26, believe they’re capable of claiming one of the six guaranteed playoff spots in the conference. “Sixth seed is the goal,” Kerr said after Monday’s win in Milwaukee, according to Slater. The No. 6 Clippers are 29-23, with a 2.5-game cushion on Golden State.
  • The Warriors are 2-0 since Butler made his debut for the team, but the star forward doesn’t believe he’s 100% yet and is confident he’ll be able to make a more significant impact, as Slater relays. “You gotta think, I haven’t played basketball in a month,” Butler said on Monday. “My wind is nowhere close to where it needs to be. I can’t wait until I’m back in basketball shape where I’m used to being. I won’t miss free throws as much. I’ll have lift on my jump shots. Right now, I’m just gassed. I’m glad we’re winning. But I gotta get in better shape.”
  • Butler has 28 free throw attempts in his first two games as a Warrior, becoming the first Golden State player to get to the foul line that often in a two-game span since Durant in 2018, Slater adds. Stephen Curry, who has scored 34 and 38 points in his first two games alongside Butler, told Slater and other reporters after Monday’s win, “Every possession just doesn’t feel as hard.”

Heat Notes: Butler, Spoelstra, Rivas, Buyout Market, Wiggins, Rotation

The Heat won half of their first 50 games this season. Considering the extended Jimmy Butler drama, coach Erik Spoelstra is relieved that the team’s spirit didn’t crumble before Butler was dealt to Golden State.

“It was six, eight weeks of not having full clarity,” Spoelstra said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “But I think that helped our team develop some grit. Even though our record isn’t where we want it to be, it could have been a lot worse. You go through a lot of circumstances like that, I’ve seen a lot of teams just fall apart. So we were able to develop some grit that I really like when you have those opportunities during a regular season.”

We have more on the Heat:

  • Armando Rivas, listed as an assistant athletic trainer, has submitted his resignation, the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman writes. Rivas served as Butler’s de facto personal trainer during the forward’s tenure with the Heat, joining Butler from the 76ers during the 2019 offseason.
  • The Heat plan to explore the buyout market, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. They’ll take a cautious approach, since they already have a full roster and would have to waive a player, most likely either Alec Burks or Keshad Johnson, to bring someone new aboard. The Heat’s deadline moves allowed them to move below the first tax apron, meaning they can sign any player who’s bought out, regardless of the player’s pre-waiver salary.
  • Andrew Wiggins, the biggest name among the incoming players in the Butler blockbuster, believes he won’t have any trouble fitting into the Heat’s lineup. “Golden State had a unique style, especially playing with Steph (Curry) and Draymond (Green),” he said, per Chiang. “There are similarities with Tyler (Herro) and Bam (Adebayo). So, looking forward to getting out there, being one of the older guys and just getting it started with them.”
  • The deadline additions will create some interesting decisions regarding the rotation. Winderman speculates that the only rotation locks are Adebayo, Herro, Wiggins, Kel’el Ware, Duncan Robinson, Davion Mitchell and Nikola Jovic.

Contract Details: Butler, Post, Mitchell, Craig, Two-Ways

Jimmy Butler‘s new two-year contract extension with the Warriors became official last Thursday as part of the trade that sent him from Miami to Golden State, per RealGM’s transaction log. That deal, which replaces Butler’s player option for 2025/26, projects to be worth $54,126,450 next season and $56,832,773 in 2026/27.

Those figures hinge on a presumed 10% salary cap increase for the ’25/26 season. Butler’s deal will start at 35% of the cap, with a 5% raise for the second year. Based on the maximum possible cap increase, which is anticipated, that would work out to a two-year total of $110,959,223 for the newest Warrior.

Meanwhile, Hoops Rumors has learned that Quinten Post‘s new standard two-year contract is a minimum-salary contract that includes a team option for 2025/26. The Warriors will have the ability to either exercise that $1.96MM for next season or turn it down in the hopes of signing the big man to a longer-term contract as a restricted free agent.

Here are a few more updates on recently signed contracts from around the NBA:

  • Ajay Mitchell‘s new two-year, $6MM contract with the Thunder includes a guaranteed $3MM for the rest of this season, which comes out of Oklahoma City’s room exception. It also features a $3MM team option for 2025/26, which means – like Golden State with Post – Oklahoma City could decline the option in order to sign Mitchell to a longer-term deal as a restricted free agent this summer.
  • Torrey Craig‘s new contract with the Celtics is a one-year, minimum-salary deal, Hoops Rumors has learned, so the veteran wing will be back on the unrestricted free agent market during the coming offseason.
  • While Branden Carlson (Thunder), Orlando Robinson (Raptors), and Jordan Goodwin (Lakers) signed two-way contracts that will expire at season’s end, Ethan Thompson‘s new two-way deal with the Magic covers two years, so Orlando will have the option of keeping him on that contract through the 2025/26 season, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Warriors Notes: Butler, Looney, Older Players

Speaking this week to Mark Medina of SportskeedaWarriors center Kevon Looney reflected on Golden State’s decision to acquire six-time All-Star forward Jimmy Butler in a five-team blockbuster trade.

“He’s great wherever he has been,” Looney said of Butler. “Individually, he has a way of elevating the group. He’s able to elevate guys that you wouldn’t think are great because they play well next to him. I’m excited to play with him and see how he is and get to experience it. I know that he’s tough as nails. I love playing with guys like that. I’m excited to see how it goes.”

In Butler’s debut as a Warrior on Saturday, the 6’7″ swingman helped propel his new club to a road win against Chicago, racking up 25 points to go along with four assists. He shot 7-of-12 from the floor and made 11-of-13 attempts from the foul line, an encouraging sign for a Golden State team that ranked dead last entering Saturday in free throw makes per game (14.7) and free throw percentage (72.0%).

“This was probably the most eventful trade deadline that I’ve been in from the standpoint of things going on around the league and internally,” Looney said. “Since I’ve been here, we haven’t really made a lot of trades. So to be involved in it was surreal.”

There’s more out of Golden State:

  • Warriors players were impressed by what they saw from Butler on Friday, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Head coach Steve Kerr is looking to occasionally stagger the minutes of Butler and Curry with an eye on keeping a star scorer on the floor at all times. Following a superlative 24-point third quarter in which he was played all 12 minutes, All-NBA guard Stephen Curry was rested for the first several minutes of the fourth. Butler helped stabilize Golden State in his absence. Kerr specifically praised Butler’s attitude after the game. “That’s kind of the key, to me,” Kerr said. “It’s the swagger that he gives us. He gives confidence to the rest of the group, including Steph and Draymond [Green], and that’s important. When all those guys are feeling empowered and confident, you feel the difference. … This is the whole point of the deal, to inject that confidence and presence Jimmy brings.”
  • The Warriors’ new core features three Hall of Famers in their mid-30s: Curry (36), Butler (35), and Green (34). With $287MM owed to those players after this season, Golden State has the most money committed to players in their age-35 seasons and beyond, observes Frank Urbina of HoopsHype. Green will turn 35 in March.
  • In case you missed it, Butler’s tumultuous last weeks with Miami were recently detailed in full.

Warriors Execs, Players Address Jimmy Butler Acquisition

The Warriors made a bold move at the deadline in acquiring six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler, consolidating four players to bring him in and change the makeup of the roster. In a media session ahead of Golden State’s game in Los Angeles on Thursday, members of the Warriors and Butler himself discussed the move.

I’ve always loved him,” owner Joe Lacob told The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. “I love Draymond [Green]. So we’re dealing with something similar. Incredible competitiveness. My kind of guy.

The Suns were considered the top suitor for Butler for weeks, with reports repeatedly citing strong mutual interest between the two sides. Phoenix was considered to be the team most willing to pay Butler the maximum-salary extension he sought, and the star forward liked the idea of a future playing alongside Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

However, Bradley Beal‘s contract – which includes a no-trade clause – proved too difficult to move and thus, Butler wound up in Golden State and Durant stayed put in Phoenix.

[Butler] was trying to get where he thought he wanted to go,” Lacob said. “He just happened to be thinking incorrectly at the time. That’s now been amended.

Given their reported desire to make a change to the roster, the Suns even engaged in talks about the idea of a trade that would have sent Durant either Golden State or Miami. However, Durant was uninterested in a reunion with Golden State, which prompted the Warriors to pivot to pursuing Butler.

Green, who played with Durant from 2016-19, downplayed Durant’s reported unwillingness to reunite forces, according to Sportskeeda’s Mark Medina. “Didn’t affect my life one bit,” Green said.

When you walk on the court and you look on the other end and you see guys that you respect, half the battle is fought,” Green said of the Warriors trading for Butler. “And with Jimmy, that’s half the battle. So that’s going to be fun because we can compete at the highest level.

Warriors players, including Green, seemed grateful that Golden State’s front office made a move that makes them more competitive this year after the team slid out of the playoff field over the course of the last couple months. Tied with the Kings but sitting in 11th, the Warriors have the final two months of the season to climb into the postseason.

We’re going in a direction,” general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said. “We have three kind-of-older generational players. But the beauty of the whole thing to me is we’ve got a lot of good complementary pieces. We’ve got assets, we’ve got young players. So in some ways in terms of our financial stuff, there’s a commitment. But on the whole, we’ll have a lot of flexibility.

The Warriors explored other moves leading up to the deadline, according to Slater, but they value what veterans on expiring contracts like Kevon Looney and Gary Payton II bring to the locker room.

The rest of the Warriors’ season will also be about replenishing their roster after they were left with four open spots on their 15-man roster. They filled one of those by converting center Quinten Post to a standard deal and Santa Cruz Warrior Kevin Knox could be another consideration, per Slater.

Dunleavy and Lacob both applauded one another for their willingness to be aggressive. This move allowed them to add a star player without sacrificing the likes of Brandin Podziemski or Jonathan Kuminga. According to Slater, the Warriors will be able to reassess in the summer and still be in position to make another big move at that point if they see fit.

As for Butler, he expressed excitement about having the chance to play alongside the best shooter in the world in Stephen Curry, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. He’s hoping to make his Warriors debut on Saturday against the Bulls.

I got a feeling I’m [going to] be back, in a big way, too,” he said. “So I’m smiling. I’ve been going at it, I’ve been training, I’ve been doing everything I’m supposed to be doing. I know that I have my joy back now. I’m in a different situation, different group of guys.

Butler himself was a big winner of the deadline, finding a team willing to pay him big money in a CBA landscape that makes teams have to be more conscious with how they allocate their finances. He and his new team reportedly agreed to a two-year, maximum-salary extension projected to be worth $111MM.

I’m not going to say that was a big part,” Butler said of his contract playing into his exit from Miami and the new one he received from Golden State. “But I’m happy about it. I am happy about it. I think the biggest part was getting me to be able to play basketball again. I just want to be able to go out there and do what I’ve been doing for a very long time. And have fun, smile, rip and run and not feel like I’m just doing cardio majority of the game. So I’m very, very, very happy that I’m not getting suspended no more.

Heat Rumors: Wiggins, Butler, Anderson, Tax

After declining to comment on the Jimmy Butler situation in recent weeks, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra addressed the subject on Friday after the team’s four-team deal sending the star forward to Golden State had officially been processed, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

Spoelstra admitted that he doesn’t “completely understand” how the relationship deteriorated to the extend that it did, but expressed gratitude to Butler for his time in Miami.

[RELATED: Inside Jimmy Butler’s Final Weeks With Heat]

“It was a great partnership and corroboration for five years,” Spoelstra said. “Some deep core memories. I’m grateful for them and grateful for the time of being able to coach a player like Jimmy.”

As for the outcome of the trade, Spoelstra praised the front office for bolstering the roster “in a way that was really creative,” expressing enthusiasm about the players the team added. The coach lauded Andrew Wiggins for his ability to fit in and make an impact on both ends of the court; cited Davion Mitchell‘s “competitive spirit” and toughness as traits the club has long admired; and referred to Kyle Anderson as one of the league’s most unique role players whose “IQ is off the charts.”

“(General manager) Andy (Elisburg) just did a tremendous job,” Spoelstra said. “Obviously (team president) Pat (Riley) with this vision of all this stuff. And to be able to get a draft pick, we were able to do a lot of different things.

“We have clarity now. This could have looked a lot worse if you had to go through a lot of different changing situations. All things considered, it’s a good spot for this stretch run. We feel good about turning the page of the direction of our franchise. It’s exciting. [And] Jimmy will be in a great place in Golden State.”

Here are a few more items of interest related to the Heat’s trade talks leading up to Thursday’s deadline:

  • The Bucks and Sixers were mentioned a couple times in recent weeks as possible suitors for Butler, but neither team had substantive discussions with the Heat, Jackson reports in another Miami Herald story. Jackson believes a trade centered around Butler and Paul George would’ve been of greater interest to Philadelphia than Miami.
  • As they engaged Golden State in recent weeks about a Butler trade, the Heat never seriously considered the idea of flipping Wiggins to Toronto or another team, according to Jackson, who says Miami really likes the former No. 1 overall pick and views him as a good two-way fit.
  • The Heat would have ducked out of luxury tax territory if they’d completed a rumored side deal to send Anderson to the Raptors, but Toronto’s front office changed its mind about bringing the veteran forward aboard when the team got the chance to acquire Brandon Ingram from New Orleans, says Jackson. The Heat weren’t angry at the Raptors about that pivot, Jackson adds, because they understood their talks were fluid and they hadn’t gotten a firm commitment from Toronto.
  • Even though that aspect of the trade fell through, the Heat moved forward with another side deal – sending Dennis Schröder, a second-round pick, and cash to Utah for P.J. Tucker – even though it no longer moved them below the tax line, Jackson writes, because they didn’t want to renege on their agreement with the Jazz. Schröder and Tucker ultimately ended up in Detroit and Toronto, respectively, when the dust settled.
  • The Heat, who remained about $2.8MM over the tax line following the Butler blockbuster, received three trade offers in the hours leading up to Thursday’s deadline that would’ve made them a non-taxpayer, per Jackson. However, they decided that all three proposals would make the team worse and opted to remain in the tax rather than accept one of them. Miami is still below the first tax apron, giving the club the ability to pursue any player who hits the buyout market, regardless of the player’s previous salary.

Inside Jimmy Butler’s Final Weeks With Heat

The contrast between how the Heat and Jimmy Butler‘s camp viewed a January 7 meeting between Butler and team president Pat Riley was indicative of the divide that had developed between the two sides in recent months, as James Jackson, Sam Amick, and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic write in a fascinating story detailing the 35-year-old’s final weeks in Miami.

Like Butler, whose father died last February, Riley lost his father when he was relatively young. Sources tell The Athletic that tears welled in Riley’s eyes as he spoke to Butler about that subject, attempting to connect with him on a human level and repair their fractured relationship during a two-hour meeting.

However, a source close to Butler tells The Athletic that the 35-year-old viewed Riley’s behavior during the meeting as “unhinged and disturbing.” According to Jackson, Amick, and Krawcznyski, the Heat star later told people close to him that Riley referenced Butler’s late father multiple times and offered “unsolicited and unwanted” parenting advice. He left the meeting more determined than ever to be traded out of Miami.

Team sources pushed back again the claim that Riley offered parenting advice, telling The Athletic that Riley believes he let Butler guide the conversation and only became “emotional” when Butler brought up the topic of his father. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, the Heat viewed the moment as a raw, vulnerable one for Riley and found it  disrespectful that Butler’s camp characterized the team president as “unhinged.”

The two sides also disagree about what occurred in the aftermath of that meeting. According to The Athletic, Butler’s camp contends that Riley said shortly after the meeting that the Heat intended to lift Butler’s initial seven-game suspension and have him rejoin the team immediately, only to call back 90 minutes later to explain that couldn’t happen until the forward met with team owner Micky Arison in person.

Arison was on vacation until January 16 in the Caribbean, however, which meant Butler would have to fly to the Bahamas to meet him, per Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN. As The Athletic relays, Butler’s camp contends that Riley suggested the six-time All-Star could pay his own way there if he wanted to expedite the process.

However, team sources dispute that Riley ever offered to lift Butler’s suspension, telling The Athletic that the possibility was discussed prior to the meeting with the caveat that the meeting would have to go well.

“The meeting didn’t go well enough,” a club source tells The Athletic.

As a result, team sources say, it was determined that Butler’s suspension wouldn’t be lifted right away and he would meet with Arison after the Heat owner returned from his vacation.

Here are a few more of the most interesting details from the behind-the-scenes reports on Butler’s final season with the Heat:

  • Prior to this season, Butler had been permitted to fly separately from the team if needed as long as he received permission from head coach Erik Spoelstra, but Riley decided in November that he – rather than Spoelstra – would make the final decision on Butler’s alternate travel plans, sources tell Jackson, Amick, and Krawczynski. A source with knowledge of Butler’s thinking felt that the change was one of several the team made in an effort to alienate him.
  • Butler missed a Jan. 22 Heat flight, which resulted in his second team-imposed suspension. According to Jackson, Butler’s camp believes he was given permission last summer to skip that flight and fly to Milwaukee later in the day so that he could attend a promotional event for a padel tournament, but the Heat have no recollection of signing off on that request.
  • Sources tell The Athletic that Butler’s agent called Riley on the morning of Jan. 22 to remind him of their alternate travel plan, with Riley responding to say he expected Butler to be on the team flight. Butler’s camp believed Spoelstra had approved Butler’s arrangement and that there had been a communication breakdown between the head coach and Riley, but team sources contend that Spoelstra didn’t approve the request and tell The Athletic that it wouldn’t have mattered if he had, given that Riley’s sign-off was now required.
  • When they suspended Butler on Jan. 22, the Heat sent a letter to Butler, Lee, and NBPA lawyers detailing their justification for the two-game ban, according to Jackson, Amick, and Krawczynski, who obtained a copy of that letter. Within it, Riley claimed that Butler had threatened to skip practices and not listen to Spoelstra; that he failed to give his “best efforts” in recent games; and that he was “combative and argumentative” in meetings with Riley and Arison.
  • When Spoelstra informed the Heat during a Jan. 27 shootaround that Haywood Highsmith would be replacing Butler in the starting lineup, Butler initially thought the coach was joking, sources tell The Athletic. He felt as if the decision to bench him and to not inform him before telling the team was “meant to provoke him,” per Jackson, Amick, and Krawczynski. According to Jackson, multiple Heat sources insisted the decision was done to maintain continuity rather than as a punishment or provocation. Butler left the court shortly after Spoelstra made that announcement and was subsequently suspended indefinitely for leaving practice early.
  • “Everything changed” from the Heat’s perspective when Butler left a Dec. 20 game after tweaking his ankle and cited a stomach virus, Jackson writes for the Herald. Although Miami didn’t question whether or not Butler was ill, a team official thought it was “curious” that the forward refused to be tested for COVID-19, according to Jackson. The club was subsequently irked when Butler posted a photo of himself playing dominoes on the locker room on Dec. 29, Jackson says — he missed that day’s game in Houston due to his illness. From that point onward, the Heat considered Butler to be disengaged and became more open to trading him. They eventually finalized a deal with Golden State on deadline day.

More On Kevin Durant: Curry Convo, Warriors/Heat Trade Talks

The Warriors and Suns began “secretly” talking about the possibility of a Kevin Durant trade early last week, according to Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, who say that the star forward and his longtime manager and agent Rich Kleiman didn’t learn about those discussions until the two teams played one another last Friday.

By Saturday, the two teams were far enough along in negotiations that Durant and Stephen Curry touched base to talk about the idea. Shelburne and Windhorst hear from sources that Durant told Curry a reunion with the Warriors “didn’t feel right” and that this “wasn’t the time” for them to team up again.

While the Warriors were discouraged by Durant’s stance, they didn’t give up on making a deal at that point, hoping that Durant might change his tune once he learned how far down the road Phoenix had gotten in those discussions without informing him, per ESPN.

The Suns have internally conceded that it was a mistake not to loop Durant into the process earlier, Shelburne and Windhorst say. The former MVP has been described as “blindsided” by being so heavily involved in trade rumors this week after having expressed a desire to stay in Phoenix.

“We should’ve gone through (Kleiman),” a team source told ESPN.

As Shams Charania reported earlier today, the Warriors, Suns, and Heat discussed a potential multi-team trade that would’ve sent both Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga to Phoenix, with Durant going to Golden State. Shelburne and Windhorst provide more details on those conversations, reporting that the Wizards were involved as well, as we speculated on Wednesday.

The four teams were negotiating a trade that would have looked like this, according to ESPN:

  • Durant to Golden State.
  • Butler, Kuminga, Jonas Valanciunas, two first-round picks (from the Warriors), two second-round picks (one each from Miami and Golden State), and pick swaps to Phoenix.
  • Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schröder, Kyle Anderson, and the Cavaliers’ 2025 first-round pick (via Phoenix) to Miami.

There are some missing details there — among them, Jusuf Nurkic would’ve been involved and would’ve gone to the Wizards, who presumably would’ve sought at least a first-rounder from the Suns as a sweetener to take on that contract.

While it sounds like there was some momentum in those negotiations, the Heat ultimately weren’t sold on the deal. They sought the Warriors’ 2025 first-round pick rather than Cleveland’s, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, who say that Golden State also had some reservations about the Suns’ steep asking price for Durant.

With Durant standing firm on his stance that he had no desire to go to Golden State, the talks fell apart.

After those discussions ended, there was a window for the Heat to potentially acquire Durant in a trade that would send Butler to Phoenix. Durant would have been more open to playing in Miami than Golden State, sources tell ESPN, and the Suns and Heat traded “visions” of what a deal might look like, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

However, the Suns were seeking a massive haul for Durant that included “a combination of talented young players and draft picks,” Jackson writes. According to both ESPN and the Herald, the Heat considered the price too steep and backed out, pivoting to a Butler deal with the Warriors that cut out Phoenix altogether.

The Suns were “deflated” by the outcome, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, who say that there were several times during the weeks leading up to Thursday’s deadline that Phoenix thought there might be a path to a Butler deal involving Bradley Beal.

However, sources tell ESPN that the Hawks and Wizards were believed to be the only teams considering taking on Beal, and it’s unclear whether he would’ve waived his no-trade clause for either team. The Suns reportedly never got close enough to a deal to approach Beal about it, eventually pivoting to exploring a Durant scenario without first informing the star forward.

As Windhorst noted on the latest Hoop Collective podcast, we’ll find out this coming summer whether those Suns trade talks involving Durant will sour him on the idea of remaining in Phoenix beyond this season.

Details On Warriors’ Pursuit Of Kevin Durant

Appearing on NBA Today (Twitter video link), Shams Charania of ESPN provided some interesting details on the Warriors‘ “aggressive” pursuit of Suns star Kevin Durant, which included several different offers.

According to Charania, one three-team framework involving the Heat would have seen Phoenix acquire Jimmy Butler from Miami, plus Jonathan Kuminga, first-round picks, second-round picks and pick swaps from Golden State. However, once Durant made it clear that he wasn’t interested in returning to the Warriors, they instead pivoted and acquired Butler themselves.

The Heat had an opportunity to acquire Durant as well, Charania reports, but the Suns declined their offer of Butler and Josh Richardson.

Charania confirms the Timberwolves were among the teams who made offers for Durant after Golden State’s failed pursuit. ESPN’s Bob Myers said yesterday that the Grizzlies were in that group as well, though Durant also wasn’t interested in playing in Memphis.

Speaking to reporters today, including Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial appeal (Twitter link), Grizzlies head of basketball operations Zach Kleiman said none of the stars that the team made offers for were moved prior to Thursday’s deadline. Kleiman also said Memphis wasn’t in on the Butler sweepstakes, Cole adds (via Twitter).

I’m not sure why we were pulled into that in the first place,” Kleiman said.

Charania once again reiterated that Durant did not expect nor want his name to be involved in trade rumors this season. Plugged-in local reporter John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 reported on Thursday that Phoenix would likely revisit Durant trade talks this summer, while ESPN’s Brian Windhorst speculated on his podcast that Durant may be seeking a new destination this offseason.