The Miami Heat have been considered the frontrunners in trade discussions with the Minnesota Timberwolves for nearly two weeks, but we’ve yet to hear any details about what a package from Miami may look like.
We’ve done our best to guess what they might offer, but it remains to be seen what players and assets are on the table. More importantly, it’s up to the Timberwolves to decide what Butler’s value is and what they’ll demand from teams, and to this point, reports indicate the asking price is too high for most teams.
That is apparently the case with Miami as well, despite them being “aggressive” in acquiring Butler. On Wednesday night, Marc Stein of the New York Times reported the two sides had made progress, but negotiations ultimately fell apart after Minnesota made a counter offer — and that a third team isn’t involved currently.
The Wolves and Heat were making significant progress on a Jimmy Butler trade this week, league sources say, before deal changes proposed by Minnesota led to a breakdown in talks
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 4, 2018
Deal specifics are not yet known but the Wolves and Heat, I'm told, have been discussing a trade without the involvement of a third team https://t.co/QAzJmk9tKo
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 4, 2018
There are a lot of things that could be causing this. There are reports that Tom Thibodeau is purposefully tanking talks by asking for too much to try and force Butler to return to the team. It also could be Pat Riley playing hardball, knowing Minnesota has very little leverage right now with the season looming in two weeks. Or, it may be some combination of the two.
Stein notes he isn’t sure of specific players being offered, but that Miami is now at the top of Butler’s list of preferred destinations and Minnesota simply won’t budge off their demands. To speculate, one would think Josh Richardson would be the most coveted player in a deal with Miami, although it’s possible they’d push for Goran Dragic to make Jeff Teague expendable.
