Jimmy Butler Rumors: NBA Insiders Struggle to See Trade Landing Spot That Makes Sense

The Miami Heat are open to trading Jimmy Butler.

Butler seems to want to play somewhere besides Miami.

But trading him might not be so simple.

Sam Vecenie of The Athletic reported Sunday that "league sources speculating on Butler's landing spot across the NBA struggled to come up with deals they think makes sense for everyone involved."

The 35-year-old Butler surely doesn't want to go to a rebuilding team, and a rebuilding team likely won't want to take him on for future assets. But contending teams would also drastically alter their on-court makeup by adding him to a rotation.

He would also be either a short-term addition or an expensive one since he has a $52.4 million player option for the 2025-26 campaign and could either exercise it and be something of a financial strain or decline it and leave in free agency.

Then there is the problem with leverage, which Miami doesn't exactly have.

After all, it suspended him for seven games and said it is open to trade offers after Butler himself said he doesn't believe he will rediscover his "joy" on the court while playing for the Heat:

ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported on the concept of leverage during an appearance on SportsCenter and said the Heat "don't like their hand right now at all" and have gotten multiple calls from teams looking to play hardball in negotiations.

"Right now, I think you're seeing a lot of teams testing just how low they might be able to buy Jimmy Butler for," Windhorst said.

Miami surely doesn't want to just give away a six-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection who has a history of taking over playoff games at his best. But it is a tricky situation for all involved at this point and doesn't lend itself to easy solutions.