Jimmy Butler Rumors: Suns Made Jazz Trade for Draft Picks Without Heat Deal Lined Up

It was easy to speculate that the Phoenix Suns had their eye on Jimmy Butler when they completed a trade with the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, but such suggestions reportedly may have been premature.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Tuesday that Phoenix traded its 2031 first-round pick to the Jazz for first-round selections in 2025, 2027 and 2029. The move gave the Suns more draft capital to work with in a potential Butler trade.

Yet NBA insider Marc Stein reported Wednesday that "Phoenix made its Tuesday trade with Utah without a specific follow-up move lined up."

At this point, the Butler-to-the-Suns noise has reached a fever pitch. He didn't exactly dial it down when he wore shoes with Phoenix colorways during the Miami Heat's game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday:

His reported preference to be traded to the Suns isn't exactly a secret either.

"Jimmy's No. 1 focus is getting traded, preferably, to the Phoenix Suns. Everything else is secondary," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said in Monday's episode of his Hoop Collective podcast (34:50 mark). "Not getting traded to 'Team X,' not getting traded to 'Team Y,' getting traded to the Phoenix Suns.

"And so, anything that you want to bring that's rational, if it doesn't mean getting traded to the Suns, Jimmy is not going to be interested in it right now. That's one thing you got to remember out of all of that. And that is the way he is operating. The second thing is that what [ESPN's Tim Bontemps] has been saying for months as well, is that Butler's best move is to just focus on playing. I think that is on the table, but not until after the trade deadline. And so that's one of the things that the Heat have in the back of their mind."

While Stein reported the Suns didn't have a follow-up move lined up, he also added that "there was an undeniable vibe in Miami after the Suns' trade went down that Butler has taken a notable step nearer to the trade to Phoenix that the whole league knows he wants."

Charania reported Tuesday that the six-time All-Star "tripled down on his trade request," so it seems like something will happen ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline.

How many teams would be willing to mortgage future assets for a 35-year-old Butler who hasn't played more than 65 games in a season since the 2016-17 campaign is a legitimate question, but the Suns may be desperate enough to make such a move.

After all, they came into the season with championship aspirations behind Kevin Durant and Devin Booker but are just 21-21 and tied with the Golden State Warriors for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.

Teaming Butler up with Durant and Booker would give them a chance in any playoff series, and they now have more draft picks to work with to make it happen. Even if they didn't have something specific lined up just yet.