Butler’s availability and low asking price could give Dallas a chance to replicate the magic they maneuvered with the Kyrie Irving trade less than two years ago.
After weeks of speculation and an ominous press conference Thursday, the Miami Heat made it clear Friday: they’re willing to move on from the Jimmy Butler era.
Miami announced a seven-game suspension for the six-time All-Star for “conduct detrimental to the team” and released a statement alongside it that read “Through his actions and statements, [Jimmy] has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team. Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they want to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Thursday that Butler does not have a specific location in mind, just that he doesn’t want to play in Miami. Butler’s answers in a Thursday press conference seem to back that up. He told reporters he “wants to see [himself] get his joy back from playing basketball, wherever that may be.” However, Charania had reported in recent weeks that Butler had a few teams he preferred: Phoenix, Houston, Golden State, and Dallas.
It’s not immediately clear Miami would consider Dallas’ potential offer, but a package recently floated on social media included forward PJ Washington, guard Klay Thompson, center Daniel Gafford, and picks. Dallas would have to give up considerable salary since they are over the first apron of the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, meaning they must match salaries dollar for dollar instead of taking on some of Butler’s salary like they may have elected to do in previous seasons.
The haul would fundamentally change this Dallas Mavericks team and it’s not without risks. Washington and Gafford were key reasons the team made an NBA Finals run last season and Thompson has been an excellent three-point shooter for the team this year, but when you have a chance to trade for an All-Star in the NBA, you do it.
The trio it creates with Luka Dončić, Irving, and Butler would give them arguably the best Big 3 in basketball come playoff time, and it would severely help stop the bleeding of the non-Luka parts of the season as he recovers from his left calf strain that is expected to keep him out through at least the end of January.
The team would be giving up a defensive anchor in Washington, but they’d be getting a solid defensive player in Butler, who had 2.7 defensive win shares last season and is still a net-positive defender even in his age-35 season. Could Butler anchor a defense like Washington can? Only time will tell, but comparing star players to role players in a role player’s specialty can get fanbases into trouble. Mavericks fans are not unique in their love for their role players, but All-Star level talent doesn’t come around every day in this league. And with free agency becoming rarer and rarer for these stars, trading for them may be your only opportunity to acquire an All-Star.
Trading away Washington and Gafford would eliminate two trade pieces, but the Mavericks would still have potential pieces to move in later seasons. Quentin Grimes has shown promising flashes as a 24-year old player on a friendly contract and Jaden Hardy is also on a very movable deal.
No trade is perfect and this one would open the Mavericks up to potential shortcomings, but the ceiling it could give this team is worth the risks. A starting lineup of Irving-Grimes-Butler-Marshall-Lively is enough to keep the team afloat until Dončić can return and once he does, you’ve created an offensive lineup that teams will struggle to defend and a defensive lineup that will play more to its strengths now that Thompson isn’t playing as an undersized 3.
Butler’s age, however, is a concern. He’s 35 and could be a 36-year old making $50 million next season, and it’s hard to discern whether his drop off in statistical efficiency this season is due to his aforementioned lack of joy, or simply his aging out of his basketball prime years. We know he can still light up the scoreboard, as shown by his 35-point outing against Detroit last month, but his 17.6 points per game average this season is his lowest in over a decade.
It’s a dangerous gamble, and it puts the Mavericks in a position where they could be making the same mistakes the Phoenix Suns did: trading for a third big-money player instead of balancing out a roster around its two superstars, but Butler fills too many holes for this team to ignore the potential upside of trading for him. Another player that can take over a game offensively who can play solid defense and is an above average playmaker is a luxury teams cannot afford to pass up. When a team wants to trade a disgruntled star for pennies on the dollar, you pick up the phone. It’s what got Dallas Kyrie two seasons ago and Mavericks GM Nico Harrison should try to work his magic to make it happen again.
Full disclosure, I’d be a lot happier with the trade if the Mavericks could keep Washington and trade for Butler, but I’m not going to ride the fence: if the options are keep Washington or trade for Butler, I’m choosing the latter. The talent ceiling Butler provides is too enticing to pass up. With a player option in 2025-2026, Dallas could essentially be trading for two full playoff runs of Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving, and Jimmy Butler, three of this generation’s most talented postseason performers.
Harrison would need to address the backup center gap with Gafford out and Lively’s recent injury scares, but a limited downgrade at center depth for an All-Star level player is a gamble I think you take 10 times out of 10 and you live with the consequences. When you have players like Dončić and Irving at the same time, you have to make bigger moves to go all in, and a chance to pull off a second All-Star-for-pennies trade is something Harrison should strongly consider before the February deadline.