The Suns efforts of acquiring the Heat’s star guard Jimmy Butler have cranked up over the past few weeks as a potential trade has begun to take form. Phoenix has been rumored for months now as a preferred trade destination for the 6x All-Star but it wasn’t until recently that things appeared to have escalated and headed for that destination.
And now it looks like there will be more than two teams involved.
Jimmy wants to get traded to the Suns. Phoenix would love to have him. The Suns has to trade Bradley Beal to make it happen. Miami wants nothing to do with him or his contract. And therein lies the problem.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way. And in this case, it appears to be by phoning a friend. The Suns and Miami are now reportedly working the lines trying to bring in a 3rd or even a 4th team to make a trade happen. The goal would be, the Suns acquire Jimmy, Miami receives an All-Star caliber player in return, and the 3rd team would take on Beal, his contract and likely a few draft picks for their troubles.
There is certainly a limited number of teams in the league would be interested in such a deal. They would have to either be a team that’s tanking and interested in only gathering more draft picks (Washington, Charlotte, Nets, Pelicans, ex.) or a team that is committed to trying to contend this year but needs to shake things up (Lakers, Golden State, Timberwolves, Bucks ex.)
No matter who they try and rope in, the important thing to remember is the clock is ticking. The NBA trade deadline is February 6th, giving them a little over two weeks to make this happen.
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Spenser Tilus is a sports reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account @Spenser_Tilus
