UPDATE: The Heat and Rockets aren’t the only team piquing Butler’s interest. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Butler plans on meeting with the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers, along with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Sources: Jimmy Butler plans to meet with the 76ers soon and has interest from other teams with maximum salary space, including the Lakers and Nets, and sign-and-trade possibilities elsewhere.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2019
EARLIER: Jimmy Butler is among the most in-demand free agents on the market. The veteran wing is a superstar capable of helping teams make the postseason, as we saw with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017-18, or put them in a position to compete for a title, as we saw with the Philadelphia 76ers this past season.
As such, teams want to sit down with Butler, and according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, there are a pair of potential suitors who will get meetings with him after free agency opens up on Sunday evening. Both the Miami Heat and the Houston Rockets, which were linked heavily to Butler when the Timberwolves put him on the trade block last season, will get the opportunity to make their pitches.
The issue is that neither team is capable of signing Butler to a contract, which leads to the second half of Woj’s report: The Sixers apparently are not opposed to the concept of a sign-and-trade if the opportunity presents itself.
Sources: Jimmy Butler expected to meet the Miami Heat in South Fla. Sunday. Butler/Rockets meeting likely early week in LA. Sixers haven’t ruled out working with Butler on sign-and-trades, which Miami and Houston need to acquire the All-Star guard.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2019
Philly boasts the ability to give Butler a five-year, $190 million supermax, and if a sign-and-trade presented itself, it would presumably involve the team giving him a deal in that ballpark and then shipping him to Houston or Miami. It’s been reported at length that this is an avenue the Rockets hoped to pursue in the event they got to sit down with Butler, but the Heat’s addition is a bit new. According to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, Butler was impressed by the way Miami sent Dwyane Wade off into retirement.
Source says Jimmy Butler’s “mind was totally blown” by all the pomp and circumstance surrounding Dwyane Wade’s last home game, with him telling friends afterward that being able to see what Miami and the Heat organization are about left an enormous impact on him.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 29, 2019
Butler is a competitive guy, and it’s not hard to see why a team so close to a championship like the Rockets or a team that is well-known for how demanding it can be like the Heat would appeal to him. Who knows how this would all change if the Sixers call him at 6:01 p.m. on Sunday and offer a supermax, but for now, Butler is at least curious about what the market could present outside of Philly.
