NBA Rumors: Latest Buzz on Jimmy Butler Trade, Warriors' Future and More
The Jimmy Butler trade chatter is going nowhere.
Not until the four-time All-Star does at least.
While a slew of recent updates again kept Butler propped atop the NBA rumor mill, he's not the only elite player whose name is being bandied about.
Houston Hot For Butler; Miami Rejoining Sweepstakes?
The Houston Rockets, perpetually looking for impact pieces that could potentially get them out of the West, recently came calling on Butler.
Not only that, but they also pushed as many trade chips as possible to the center of the table.
Houston reportedly offered four future first-rounders as part of a package for Butler, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Minnesota Timberwolves, though, were unimpressed.
Stadium's Shams Charania addressed both Minnesota's reaction and the rest of the offer.
"Minnesota has shown no inclination of moving on the Houston Rockets' offer of their four first-round picks," Charania said. "But also it has two injured players in the deal: Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss, two guys who aren't playing right now. There's no timetable on either of those guys' [return]."
While that's a lot of pieces, none of them are helpful. And it's not even clear any would be significant gains later on.
Knight hasn't played since tearing his ACL in July 2017, and he had more knee surgery in September. Chriss has battled an ankle injury that's delayed his 2018-19 debut, and his 11.8 career player-efficiency rating speaks to the disappointment of his first two campaigns.
As for the picks, they would be coming from a club that won 65 games last season and would be adding Butler to a nucleus already featuring James Harden, Chris Paul and Clint Capela. It's possible all of the selections might fall in the 20s and could be closer to the back end.
On the heels of this Houston news came word from the Five Reasons Sports Network that the Miami Heat are talking to the Timberwolves again:
The Heat, you may recall, had neared an agreement to acquire Butler earlier in October, but talks fractured at the last minute, per Wojnarowski. Team president Pat Riley would later tell his locker room he was "pulling the plug" on the pursuit, via Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, although that wasn't necessarily a permanent stance.
With Miami and Minnesota discussing possible deals again, it will be interesting to see which (if any) side has blinked since the last time they talked.
Warriors' Core to Splinter Next Summer?
Fear not, non-Bay Area-based NBA fans: The Golden State Warriors' extended run of dominance could be in jeopardy as early as next summer.
Multiple league executives, scouts and agents told ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst that's when they believe the club's current core "will...break up in some way." Windhorst said that opinion "is essentially a referendum on Kevin Durant's upcoming free agency, not so much Klay Thompson's" but added "some executives also wonder what will happen with Draymond Green."
Both Durant and Thompson can hit the open market in 2019, when Green will also be eligible for an extension. While Thompson sounds like he wants to stick around, Durant has been coy about his intentions beyond coveting a massive paycheck.
"I am thinking about the money I'm going to get," Durant recently told The Athletic's Marcus Thompson II. "I never got the [massive] deal. I've just seen a bunch of dudes around the league making so much money—and I'm happy for them. But I know I deserve that too. That's the only thing I'm probably thinking about to be honest."
Durant won't have trouble collecting major coin. He could get at least four years and $164 million from an external suitor or five years and $221 million out of Golden State.
Warriors' ownership has proved it will stomach luxury-tax hits to continue contending for championships, but the cost of keeping this core together could grow staggering. As Windhorst noted, Green is also eyeing a pay rise and could be eligible for a super-max deal if he makes an All-NBA team or wins another Defensive Player of the Year award.
It's possible Golden State figures out a way to make everything work and keep all the key contributors happy. But the franchise's biggest threats have always been time and money. There's no reason to think the former is concerning anytime soon, but the latter is seemingly on the minds of everyone already.
Anthony Davis Suitors Already Mulling Trade Offers?
The best-run NBA teams are always preparing for the future. The Warriors' stranglehold on the Association has made that fact truer than ever.
That said, even if Golden State weren't bulldozing through opponents on the regular, clubs would still be making early (and optimistic) plans of acquiring a supreme talent like Anthony Davis. While there's no certainty the five-time All-Star will ever be made available, prospective employers will be ready on the off chance he is.
"Some teams already are mulling trade packages if Davis passes on an extension the New Orleans Pelicans can offer him next summer," Windhorst wrote. "This is the option that raises goosebumps among a handful of teams that think they might have a shot at landing Davis."
The 25-year-old can't reach free agency before 2020, so teams would need New Orleans' cooperation to pry him loose before that. The Pelicans couldn't be less interested in doing so.
"There's no one in the league that we would trade him for, and there's no one out of the league—not even Beyonce," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters. "If we wouldn't trade him for her, he's probably untouchable."
Gentry made that statement before the season started. Ask him again now, and he would somehow be even less inclined to consider a swap.
New Orleans has sprinted out to a perfect 4-0 start, and Davis has anchored that run with MVP-caliber averages of 27.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and a league-best 3.8 blocks. The Pelicans have outscored opponents by 64 points in Davis' 144 minutes.
But we're still a long ways away from next summer. And if this early-season success can't carry over into the playoffs, that might make for some interesting negotiations in the offseason.
While dealing Davis would be a crushing blow to the organization, the worst-case scenario would be watching him walk for nothing in 2020. Maybe the Pelicans are ready to take that risk. Maybe they don't even get to that point because they extend him beforehand.
But if neither of those things comes to fruition, maybe they would consider moving him for what would surely be a massive return. Potential trade partners will be ready if they do.
Statistics used courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com.
