8:32pm: Butler’s preference to remain in Chicago has been made clear to the Bulls’ front office in addition to the Cavs, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today adds (via Twitter) that a trade between Chicago and Cleveland appears unlikely at this point. Still, Johnson tweets that the Bulls remain active in Butler talks.
7:28pm: The Cavaliers have been notified that Butler would like to stay with the Bulls and would be reluctant to commit to a long-term future in Cleveland, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com. If the Cavs are able to complete a deal for Butler, I imagine they’d do so without a long-term commitment from the forward, but his desire to remain in Chicago is still a factor they’ll have to consider.
4:33pm: Just one day after Bulls sources suggested that the team likely wouldn’t move Jimmy Butler this week, the odds of a trade appear to be increasing. The Bulls have typically just been willing to listen on Butler inquiries to gauge his value, but they’re now making outgoing calls to teams about the star forward, according to Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com.
According to Goodwill, the Celtics and Cavaliers are the frontrunners to land Butler if a deal gets done this week. The Suns have been “doing due diligence,” league sources tell Goodwill. The Nuggets were somewhat involved on Butler at the trade deadline, per CSN’s report, though it’s not clear if they’re jumping into the fray this time around. The Timberwolves were also mentioned on Monday as a possible trade partner for Chicago.
Butler has publicly expressed a desire to remain in Chicago, but Goodwill writes that the relationship between the All-NBA forward and head coach Fred Hoiberg hasn’t been “fruitful,” which is one reason the Bulls appear to be legitimately considering moving Butler. Goodwill also suggests that the club may be reluctant to pay Butler a super-max Designated Veteran Extension if he becomes eligible for one next summer.
According to Goodwill, the Bulls were “rebuffed” on an offer to the Celtics for the No. 3 overall pick, straight up. I would expect Chicago to be seeking more than just that one pick in return for Butler, so if that’s true, it’s a surprise. Goodwill adds that bringing the Cavs to the negotiating table figures to increase the quality of the offers for Butler.
An earlier report indicated that the Cavs were attempting earlier this week to work out a three-team Butler trade that would see a third team receive Kevin Love, with a high lottery pick going from that club to the Bulls.
Although the Suns were believed to be the third team in that scenario, and John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 confirms (via Twitter) that the Cavs had interest in Phoenix’s No. 4 pick, Gambadoro says those discussions didn’t involve Love (Twitter link). While that may be true, it would be virtually impossible for the Cavs to pry away a top-five pick for the Bulls without using Love, so I have to think he’d be involved somehow.
Those Butler discussions with the Cavs took place before GM David Griffin departed from the franchise. However, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, Griffin left behind the framework for possible deals involving Butler or Paul George, so owner Dan Gilbert and assistant GM Koby Altman – essentially the Cavs’ acting GM – could continue to work on those deals.
Timberwolves offer Lavine, Dunn, and the 7th overall pick for Butler.
I’ll answer for Minnesota. HELL NO!!!
Agreed. I think if Minnesota was willing to include LaVine in a package, he’d of been dealt already.
Haha called it!
Wasn’t the offer last year something like the Dunn pick (forgot which he got taken with) and LaVine for Butler? LaVine’s injury changes things up for Minnesota (who knows if LaVine will return to form) and I doubt Chicago would be eager to go through another athletic guard going through ACL rehab.
How about no, Scott.
It’s cause the Suns wanted Kyrie not Love
“According to Goodwill, the Bulls were “rebuffed” on an offer to the Celtics for the No. 3 overall pick, straight up.”. Does ANYONE think that really happened? Ainge would have done that deal in a heartbeat!
Yeah I read that sentence about 10 times to make sure I wasn’t misinterpreting it. Only way I can see it making sense is if the Celtics would rather have Hayward than Butler and don’t want to lose both the No. 3 pick PLUS the cap room to go after Hayward. But still…
And Stephen A Smith said the Bulls offered Butler to the 76ers for the 3 pick but were rebuffed on that, too. No one believes either report.
Well Butler isn’t a franchise changing type of player, which is what you want from that pick. Plus I’d rather have Porzingis.
Butler is definitely a franchise changing player. He’s definitely not Lebron, Kawhi or Durant but he’s definitely in that next tier, and would make a team like the Celtics a legitimate championship contender rather than a fantasy.
How is Butler not a franchise changing player but the #3 pick is definitely going to be? Butler is an established product…a top 3-4 two way player in the league…there’s not a single guarantee that the #3 pick will come close to that.
Typical Boston fans. I hope they don’t get Butler, or anyone else. Let them fantasize about their college roster and their draft picks.
Also, I think Ainge thinks he can knock the price down even more.
Someone has to be mistaken, Goodwill misspoke/wrote, or some other misunderstanding; doesn’t even make sense for Bulls to put out that kind of offer. Perhaps the C’s made that offer and were rebuffed by the Bulls.
Agree. That’s the only think that would make sense because I think when I first heard that the Bulls approached the Sixers they were asking for the 3rd pick plus a player(s) for Butler.
Yeah, unless Ainge ego kicked in and he wanted to dominate the trade (which is his Achilles heel) then it seems like a pretty good deal. There would be a lot of depth at that position if they got Hayward too but they could deal Crowder or others. That said if the cap strapped Cavs pull off this deal then Ainge should be ashamed.
That’s the only way I see this rumor being true, Ainge’s ego getting too big. That would be a steal if Chicago only asked for the #3 pick.
Yeah that’s crazy. Only way it makes sense to me is if Ainge has already committed to trading the #3 (or another first rounder)to someone else.
Ya for sure fake news….aing would be an absolute idiot to turn down that trade….Boston can’t use 7 1st round picks…..at some point they needed to be used as currency
Doesn’t necessarily surprise me because we heard the Bulls were talking to the 76’ers for that #3 pick before it was traded to the Celtics. Ainge is probably just negotiating. Butler only has 2 years left on his contract and the #3 pick should be a pretty good player.
Bulter is an All NBA top 15 player….#3 pick isn’t goning to be that for sure next season.
I can see several teams, including those mentioned, being in on a Jimmy butler deal, if the bulls do in fact move him….I outright don’t believe the report about them only wanting the 3rd pick AND Boston saying no to that. That’s totally ridiculous. If that offer was made, he’d already be in Boston
The Bulls front office has been terrible at trades, and they are notorious for their incompetence…
I have ZERO faith they will he able to even get fair value for Butler, much less come out on top.
It’s so sad to see how fast this franchise has fallen. Due to such bad trades, poor decision making in free agency, and poor drafting, once they get rid of Butler we are looking at a bottom dweller for the foreseeable future until ownership makes a change.
Same thing happened after Jordan left. The Rose pick fell into their laps and Butler being as good as he is was like hitting the lottery. They’ve had a lot of luck at times and poor decisions, as you mentioned above, has been their achilles heel.
Well said!
Although I’m a Celtics fan, this week leading up to the NBA draft has been more suspenseful and fun than the entire NBA season. What a rush!
As a C’s die hard fan since mid 80’s, I’ve felt the same way.. This off season has been interesting and exciting so far
to SA for Lamarcus Aldridge…POP will have a squad!!!
That would be a terrible deal for the Bulls
The cavs thing is all smokescreen. I’m still not sure butler even gets moved, but if he does, several other teams have the need and better assets
If you’re the Bulls front office, you have to move him. It’s plain and simple. There’s no guarantee that he’ll stick around when his contract is up in a few years, and you don’t want to be the team paying him a king’s ransom — especially if the results aren’t up to par.
He’ll bring back a solid bounty of draft picks, especially if multiple teams are involved, and this is one of the deepest drafts we have seen in a while.
Jimmy is an extremely good player, but it just isn’t working on the Bulls. He’s just not “the” guy they need. However, for a team like the Celtics or Cavs, he’s the missing piece they need.
The Bulls need to start rebuilding to be ready for when the Cavs and Warriors fade off, in about 3-4 years. It just makes sense for all teams involved.
He’s not “the” guy they need, or the front office has done a terrible job putting together an old, un-athletic roster around him with pieces that don’t fit together AT ALL?
I vote option 2.
This team is a disaster, and that won’t be changing any time soon. As long as Gar/Pax are running the show, it’ll continue to be the same garbage year after year. I will be absolutely SHOCKED if Jimmy gets traded. It’s significantly more likely that they stay put in the draft and run out the same mediocre garbage that’ll get them an 8 seed next year.
Their coach is also easily the worst in the NBA right now, well, in front of Phil Jackson…
They never even attempted to balance the floor last year. They put Rondo, Wade, and butler in positions that were difficult for them to succeed in b/c of the fit around them. The only shooters they had never were used correctly, and they traded 1 of them away in what seemed like a pretty bad deal….to be honest, I don’t even know what they should do anymore. I’ve been thinking they shpuld try to figure it out around Butler, but they haven’t done the best job for the last couple of years, in making me think they can do so moving forward….
If you keep Butler, you can go into the offseason with a rotation of Denzel Valentine, Wade, Butler, Zipser, Lopez. Mirotic, Rondo, Portis, Jerian Grant, Anthony Morrow, MCW, Cameron Payne, Felicio, Canaan
Or you could theoretically try MCW, Wade, Valentine, Butler, Portis. Mirotic, Rondo, Lopez, Zipser, Grant, Morrow, Payne, Felicio….
Rondo, Mirotic, MCW, Morrow, and Felicio are all FAs. So essentially, you need guards, shooters that can be wing players, and they could use someone at the 4. If they can do that with their draft pick, and bring in a couple of free agents somehow, they could be right there in the middle/approaching top 5 in the east. But if it seems like it’s not plausible to fix their issues, it might make sense to move Butler to Boston, Denver, or Minnesota