The Miami Heat had made significant progress on a trade involving Jimmy Butler earlier this week, but proposed changes from Minnesota created a “breakdown” in negotiations, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times (via Twitter).
The Wolves and Heat were making significant progress on a Jimmy Butler trade this week, league sources say, before deal changes proposed by Minnesota led to a breakdown in talks.
Deal specifics are not yet known but the Wolves and Heat, I’m told, have been discussing a trade without the involvement of a third team.
As @NYTSports reported last week, Wolves ownership has been notified that Miami is Jimmy Butler’s preferred destination, which is significant given that Butler becomes a free agent July 1
Citing league sources, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Wolves are interested in center Bam Adebayo, guard Josh Richardson and a protected first-round pick. Wojnarowski also reports that Butler does not plan to miss any regular-season games, assuming his surgically repaired right wrist is healthy.
Minnesota’s preferences in a Miami deal have included center Bam Adebayo, guard Josh Richardson and a protected 2019 first-round pick, league sources said. A trade could take on a larger construction to include more players, league sources said.
In any Butler deal, Minnesota has wanted to unload center Gorgui Dieng and the $48 million left on his contract.
Timberwolves executives told other interested teams in the past 24 hours that they didn’t have any offers that met the franchise’s criteria to honor Butler’s trade request and planned to hold on to him until a deal met their requirements, league sources said. Miami is one of the preferred destinations of Butler’s, league sources said. He has told the Wolves that he’ll leave the team in July free agency, and has expressed interest in several teams with max salary space, including the LA Clippers, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks.
Houston has also been aggressive in attempting to trade for Butler, sources said. Like Miami, Houston doesn’t have the salary-cap space to sign Butler in the summer and needs to acquire him now to obtain his Bird rights to retain him on a new deal in July.
When the Timberwolves return from a West Coast preseason road trip early Thursday morning, president of basketball operations and coach Tom Thibodeau is expected to push for Butler to return to practice and start preparations for the regular season, league sources said.
The Heat enter 2018-19 with a nearly identical roster as last season, when they went 44-38 to secure the No. 6 seed. The addition of Butler could be enough to vault Miami into the top half of the Eastern Conference.
Butler, a four-time All-Star, averaged 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.0 steals in 59 games for the Timberwolves last season. He had a minor procedure done on his right hand in July after meniscus surgery on his right knee in February, an injury that kept him out for 21 games in 2017-18.
Butler holds a player option on his contract next season, but it is widely expected he will opt out and join a 2019 free-agent market that many expect to be robust. Minnesota’s All-Star big man, Karl-Anthony Towns, was entering the final year of his contract in 2018-19 as well. But he signed an extension with the Wolves shortly after training camp opened, securing his place in Minnesota for years to come.
Reports circulated in the offseason that Butler was frustrated with the nonchalant attitudes of Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Next season, Wiggins will begin playing on his maximum contract in 2018-19, with a $25 million-plus salary that will account for more than 20 percent of the team’s cap and push the Timberwolves close to the luxury tax threshold.
The Timberwolves acquired Butler from Chicago in exchange for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen during the 2017 offseason. The former 30th overall pick helped propel the young Timberwolves to a 47-35 season while earning his fourth consecutive All-Star berth. The Wolves made the playoffs, ending a 14-year drought for the franchise, but they lost 4-1 to the top-seeded Houston Rockets in the first round.
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Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
