For the most part, early season trade rumors should be diligently ignored. Half of them are made up, and most of the other half don’t make sense on the basketball side. Still others are basically economic fantasies, full of contracts that can’t be matched up effectively.
Every once in a while, though, a good trade rumor comes to light, and the Jimmy Butler-to-Houston possibility is surprisingly sensible. It does come with some potential issues, but all trade rumors do, and the ones associated with this one could be worked out if all of the involved parties want to work things out.
Pat Riley set up a possible Jimmy Butler trade in the offseason
When Miami GM Pat Riley decides to make a change, he doesn’t mess around. We’ve seen this many times over, and it’s augmented by the fact that as an executive, Riley has as much power as any non-owner in the game.
He made it clear he’s had enough of Butler’s “playoff Jimmy” routine. Riley called out Butler about being available more during the season, knowing that Butler gets nicked-up a lot and has a tendency to miss plenty of regular season games. He also knows that owner Micky Arison doesn’t want to extend a huge contract for a guy approaching 40 who’s probably going to play 40-60 games.
Still, it was shocking to hear an executive say that an extension won’t happen with that level of participation. Riley knew exactly what he was doing when he issued this ultimatum. He’d setting up a “play for me, or I’ll trade you” scenario that would take away many of Butler’s prime destination choices. It was a brilliant gambit, but it also comes with a very high risk level.
Jimmy Butler and Ime Udoka are basketball soulmates
It took Ime Udoka a long time to get a head coaching job in the NBA, and when he did he quickly blew it up, engaging in an inappropriate relationship in Boston that cost him his job with the Celtics.
Udoka landed on his feet in Houston, and so far he’s been discreet about his off-court activities. On the basketball side, he’s seriously blessed with a ton of young talent that nearly resulted in a play-in berth for the Rockets.
Those young mouths still want to get fed, though, and most of them want to be scoring superstars. Udoka signed Fred VanVleet to establish a law-and-order culture when it comes to shot selection and playing defense, but the sturdy guard isn’t a top-tier star who has that level of power.
Jimmy Butler does. Butler is the ultimate work ethic culture warrior, at least when he’s not sitting out his injuries. A year or two of late-career Jimmy would make a huge difference in Houston’s fortune, and it would allow Udoka to continue to rule the roost with an iron hand.
It definitely won’t be a long-term relationship. Butler has worn out his welcome very quickly in some of his past stops, and now Father Time is starting to dictate the final terms of his impressive career. With all those hungry young mouths to feed, though, Butler wouldn’t have to stay long; he’d just have to make sure everybody shared the ball and played defense to Udoka’s exacting demands.
What the deal might look like
To put it bluntly, who cares?? The point is that this particular deal is too good not to happen. As long as the Heat don’t get greedy and the Rockets don’t get stingy, this is a deal that can be done, and it benefits both teams. Miami will have preferences when it comes to Houston’s young talent, and the Heat will probably try to get Houston to take on the contracts of either Tyler Herro or Duncan Robinson.
Miami already has some pieces with Bam Adabayo, Jaime Jaquez and rookie Ke’lel Ware, but their roster would look a lot more complete if they could add possible pieces like Cam Whitmore, Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, Jalen Green or Jabari Smith, Jr.
For Houston, adding Butler would give Houston another veteran to go with VanVleet and enforcer Dillon Brooks. That would almost certainly give them enough to get the young gunners some postseason experience, and it would give Udoka another season to set up his preferred culture, which is about hardcore discipline and playing with defensive toughness.