The NBA trade market is officially heating up as we cruise toward December 15th when almost 90% of players in the league will be eligible to be dealt. There are still two months to go until the trade deadline, but it’s never too early to start thinking about what players might get moved and how the landscape of the league could change.
We’ve already heard about a bunch of solid veteran role players on bad teams that are likely to be shopped, but now we’ve gotten some substantial rumors about the availability of legitimate star players.
Jimmy Butler and Brandon Ingram at the forefront of trade rumors
ESPN’s NBA insider Shams Charania released a notebook of NBA intel that included plenty of trade tidbits, but was headlined by two stars; Jimmy Butler of the Heat and Brandon Ingram of the Pelicans.
The Ingram situation is nothing new; he wants a max deal, the Pelicans don’t want to pay it, and there’s little to no trade market for him. It still appears that it’s going to be tough to move Ingram unless he lowers his asking price for his next contract - which seems very unlikely, especially after changing agencies recently (he’s now with Klutch).
Butler, on the other hand, is a much more intriguing topic. He’s more of a proven veteran, one who has earned a reputation as one of the league’s fiercest competitors and a historic playoff riser who has led the Heat to multiple NBA Finals appearances in the last five years.
Butler fit on the Nuggets would be a disaster
Charania reported that the Heat are open to listening to offers for Butler as they haven’t extended his contract which is set to expire at the end of this season (he has a player-option for next season at around $52 million). Charania also stated that Butler is open to a deal and wants to go to a contender.
Butler is a great player, but he is already 35 years old and his best years are behind him. In theory, adding a playoff star of his caliber to this Nuggets squad should be a no-brainer. But in reality, it’s not that simple.
For one, Butler’s contract would require the Nuggets giving up at least one of their top four players to match salary. Nikola Jokic obviously isn’t going anywhere and Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon were recently extended, so they cannot be dealt. That leaves Michael Porter Jr.
MPJ is far from a perfect player, but he’s the youngest of the Nuggets’ core guys at 26 years old, he’s the most durable, taking the court almost every game, and he’s by far their best - and highest volume three-point shooter.
Butler, despite his strengths, is not a three-point shooter and has famously not been a durable player at all, especially in the regular season. If the Nuggets added Butler, they’d be adding another unreliable veteran who may or may not be available on any given night.
The Nuggets are also the worst three-point shooting team in the league and would be sacrificing their best shooter for a guy who barely ever shoots and doesn’t space the floor. The team’s spacing would be disastrous and would be reliant on players who want to live inside the paint and need the ball.
Jimmy could help the team’s perimeter defense and give them a legitimate secondary offensive hub, but the cons vastly outweigh the pros. The Nuggets would be tied to an ancient roster full of injury-prone players and non-shooters. Financially, they’d be strapped for the rest of the Jokic era, and they’d be one Butler ankle roll away from leaving the Joker out to dry in the regular season.
As tempting as it may sound to trade for a star, this move would cap the team’s ceiling, shorten their window, accentuate their weaknesses, and potentially set them up for a complete blow up sooner rather than later. Stay away!