With two days left before the NBA trade deadline, Jimmy Butler could still emerge as a massive winner this season.
There is less than 48 hours before the NBA trade season is officially over. The trade deadline is set for 3:00 PM EST on Thursday, Feb. 6, and even though news of trades will trickle through in the hours after the deadline, trades can only be finalized to that point.
For now, despite his demands, Jimmy Butler is still on the Miami Heat, and their options are dwindling as their star player makes things tough on the organization.
Butler has made it clear that he only wants to play for the Phoenix Suns, and unless Bradley Beal waives his no-trade clause, there is no room for Butler in the desert.
While no massive news has emerged on the Butler-to-Phoenix front, the final days and hours are often the busiest.
Over the weekend, the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings traded De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Lakers and Spurs, so far, are the biggest winners of the trade deadline, but Butler could pass them if he gets what he wants.
“If he gets to the Phoenix Suns by Thursday and has a contract extension in place shortly thereafter that he’s going to sign, he is going to be one of the biggest winners of the NBA season,” declared ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
“He has gone all-in on trying to make that happen.”
Butler is currently serving an indefinite suspension from the Heat for being a distraction during his demands.
While Butler has made it clear he wants to move, Beal has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t. Beal and LeBron James are the only two players in the NBA with a complete no-trade clause, so unless Beal signs off, he will stay in Phoenix past the deadline.
Beal’s stubbornness has made it impossible for the Suns to fix their roster.
“I don’t think it will happen,” Windhorst continued. “I don’t think the Suns are going to figure out how to get rid of Bradley Beal, but he has gotten incrementally closer and closer and closer to this over the last two months.”
While the odds of the Suns landing Butler remain a longshot, stranger things have happened, and until the deadline passes, nothing is set in stone.
