Rockets Trade Rumors: Houston Trying to Get Creative for Jimmy Butler Move

The Houston Rockets are trying to enter the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes as the four-time NBA All-Star attempts to engineer his exit from the Minnesota Timberwolves, ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday.

Wojnarowski said Houston has "tried to be creative in its pursuit" and added the Rockets would likely need a third team involved to complete a Butler trade.

The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski first reported Butler had met with Timberwolves president of basketball operations and head coach Tom Thibodeau and requested a trade. According to Wojnarowski, the pair met again Monday, but it doesn't appear the situation has changed.

When it comes to the Rockets' chances of landing Butler, some fans may point to the team's acquisition of Chris Paul last summer as a reason for optimism. General manager Daryl Morey made a number of minor moves in order to create the salary-cap space necessary to accommodate Paul's contract.

However, the situations aren't entirely similar.

For one, Morey had more time ahead of the regular season to piece together a trade package for Paul. The deal was completed in June 2017, before free agency had even opened.

Houston's cap situation is even more constraining this time around as well after the team re-signed Paul to a four-year, $159 million extension along with the five-year, $90 million deal to keep Clint Capela.

The Rockets traded Ryan Anderson to the Phoenix Suns earlier in the offseason, but that move ultimately freed up little money in the short term. Anderson counts for $20.4 million against the cap in 2018-19, while Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss—Houston's return from the trade—combine to make $17.8 million.

According to Spotrac, the Rockets are $32.6 million over the salary cap for the upcoming season. Making things even more difficult, the team has a little over $81.3 million tied up in Paul, Capela and James Harden, three players who are untouchable.

And none of this gets into whether Butler is even a good fit for the Rockets. Houston head coach Mike D'Antoni seamlessly integrated Paul into his rotation, but Butler's one season with the Timberwolves might be evidence he needs to be the top star to be happy.

In Houston, Butler would at the very least be the second option behind Harden and potentially even the third depending on Paul's role in the offense.

The Rockets need to do something in order to keep pace with the Golden State Warriors; trading for Butler probably isn't the solution.