Suns Trolled by NBA Fans as Jimmy Butler Traded to Warriors amid Durant, Beal Rumors

The Phoenix Suns were linked to Jimmy Butler for much of the six-time All-Star's saga at the end of his tenure with the Miami Heat.

Until they weren't.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Wednesday that the Heat traded Butler to the Golden State Warriors in a multi-team deal that brought Andrew Wiggins back to Miami. It means Golden State has another headline name alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green as it attempts to make a charge up the Western Conference standings.

And it also means the Suns will likely look pretty similar once Thursday's trade deadline passes.

NBA Insider Chris Haynes reported the Suns were prepared for this scenario all along:

Social media had plenty of reaction from a Phoenix perspective:

Ultimately, the Suns likely would have needed to move Bradley Beal if they were going to accommodate Butler in a trade. With Beal's no-trade clause and contract that is set to pay him $53.7 million in base salary next season before a $57.1 million player option in 2026-27, that was much easier said than done.

NBA insider Jake Fischer reported Monday "the unrelenting word continues to be that Beal has no desire to bless a trade pretty much anywhere and prefers to remain in Phoenix, where his family has been settling after finally leaving the nation's capital."

ESPN's Brian Windhorst also talked about the situation during an appearance on Wednesday's episode of Get Up:

"The Suns have been trying for weeks to turn Bradley Beal into Jimmy Butler. To pair him with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. That is what the Suns have wanted, that is what Jimmy Butler has wanted. That is not what Brad Beal wants, and he has no trade clause, and they have reached a loggerheads. They have tried almost every team in the league from what I can understand."

That led to some Kevin Durant trade rumors even, but Fischer and Marc Stein reported "there is a distinct sense percolating now that Durant does not want to be traded at all."

So it looks like the current players on the Suns will have to figure out a way to turn things around from the ninth spot in the Western Conference standings at 25-24.