While guys like Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant are viewed as the crown jewels of the 2019 NBA free agency class, there are plenty of other players who will assuredly command max contracts around the league. One such player is Jimmy Butler, and according to a new report, a team that was interested in acquiring him back when the Minnesota Timberwolves were looking to trade him will once again swing for the fences.
Adrian Wojnarowski brings word that the Houston Rockets want to get the All-Star wing. The issue is that the Rockets do not have the money needed to get a player of Butler’s caliber, which leads to their preferred mechanism to get him: a sign-and-trade.
Per the report from Woj, Houston hopes to convince Butler to go to Philadelphia to ask for a sign-and-trade, as the Sixers can give him a deal and flip him at the risk of him leaving the team for nothing. The issue is that Philly also wants to bring Butler back, and is willing to fork out a ton of cash to do it.
The Sixers plan to be aggressive in signing Butler to a new deal, sources said, and could blunt a Rockets push with a full five-year, $190 million offer at the start of free agency on Sunday night. The Sixers could offer Butler a four-year, $146.5M deal, too.
Butler would be eligible to sign a four-year, $140 million contract on the way to the Rockets, but Houston would likely need to include center Clint Capela and guard Eric Gordon to make the financial deal work, sources said.
Wojnarowski also broke this down on SportsCenter.
https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1143642426113847297/
It’s easy to see the holes in this plan. Philly can offer Butler more money and years, the team was ridiculously close to knocking off the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and there’s no guarantee they’d be interested in bringing on Capela’s contract, especially because they already have Joel Embiid. Plus, as Wojnarowski mentioned in his story, with major contributors like Tobias Harris and J.J. Redick also hitting free agency, letting Butler go for nothing could make life a little easier on them as they try to navigate the free agent market.
No matter what happens, Butler is going to be in high demand. Whether or not he stays in Philly or heads elsewhere remains to be seen, but if the Rockets have their way, he’ll see himself taking the floor alongside James Harden and Chris Paul when next season begins.
