We’ve reached the point in the NBA regular season where teams have seen what they’ve got and are ready to start making changes accordingly. The first wave of major rumors hit this week as Shams Charania of ESPN reported that Jimmy Butler of the Heat and Brandon Ingram of the Pelicans are both available in trade talks.
Despite the star status of each player, they are available for a reason. Both players are in the final year of their contract (Butler has a $52 million player option for next season) and they’re at an impasse with their current teams.
Both Butler and Ingram are seeking max contract extensions, and to this point, the Heat and Pelicans have been unwilling to meet that price. Ingram is still a young player, but he leaves a lot to be desired. Paying him more than he’s worth could be crippling for a Pelicans team that doesn’t want to spend into the tax and has several other good young players.
The Heat situation with Butler is different. Jimmy is 35 and has become less and less reliable and durable in recent years. When he takes the court he is still highly effective, but paying for past performance is another way to quickly derail a team.
I focused on that reason and others when I made an impassioned case for the Nuggets to avoid dealing for Jimmy Butler. His age, injury history, and lack of shooting are all major concerns for me and if it started to go poorly, that could be the beginning of the end in Denver.
Kevin O’Connor thinks Butler to Nuggets a juicy match
But Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor wrote an article about Jimmy Butler and possible trade destinations and called the Nuggets the “cleanest match”. He argued that Butler’s playmaking would outweigh his lack of shooting. He could credibly carry lineups without Nikola Jokic and he’d immediately be their best defensive player.
This could also allow Jamal Murray to move into more of an off-ball role and hopefully regain his confidence and shooting playing in the role that is currently occupied by Michael Porter Jr. This all sounds great in theory, but it would be a major shift in philosophy from the organization, one that would come with major risk.
If it all works out, the Nuggets could become more of a contender this season and next. But if it goes poorly, the Nuggets will have traded their best “young” player in MPJ, who is also their best shooter and spacer. It’s an enormous gamble, one that I probably wouldn’t make, but in the heart of Nikola Jokic’s prime, maybe that’s exactly what this team needs.