Jimmy Butler suspended again, Bucks could get involved in a trade sending him to Phoenix

Though they may not acquire the Marquette alum, they could facilitate his move to Phoenix by swapping a few salaries for a larger one.

The last 24 hours have seen some interesting updates in the Jimmy Butler trade saga, and while the Bucks haven’t done anything, the rumors are still flying. But you know who’s not flying? Apparently Jimmy Butler, who has been suspended by the Heat for missing the team flight to Milwaukee for tomorrow’s game (if it even happens) according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. He wanted to fly separately but he was told to stay home for their road trip. A trade seems closer than it did a few days ago, and here’s why.

First off, last night the Suns swapped their 2031 first-round pick for three future firsts (2025, 2027, and 2029) from the Utah Jazz. Splitting the baby into three picks gives them multiple trade assets as opposed to one, even if they’re all less valuable than their 2031. The new picks Pheonix received also are easier to evaluate since they’re sooner and all of them are encumbered by swaps: they will be the least favorable of Cleveland’s, Minnesota’s, or Utah’s picks in those odd-numbered years. The 2025 pick will likely be 29th or 30th overall, and depending on how you feel about the Cavs and Wolves moving forward, they will probably be late picks in 2027 and 2029 too. All that is to say, these picks aren’t that great—likely late first-rounders.

Naturally, given all the hubbub about Jimmy Butler’s preferred destination being Phoenix, this puts them way out in front in the Butler (who is more optimistic he’ll go there) sweepstakes. It certainly will allow them to outbid any offer that Milwaukee can offer Miami, unless Milwaukee is also somehow able to swap their own 2031 pick for multiple firsts (side note: I might do this if I were the Bucks—keep one or two and trade another). So we may be able to count the Bucks out as a destination for Butler right now.

But we apparently can’t count them out as a part of what would need to be a multiteam deal that sends Butler to Arizona. The Suns would certainly have to send out Bradley Beal in order to acquire Butler since they’re over the second apron, and Marc Stein reported on Sunday that the Bucks “have been more frequently painted as a team likely to rekindle their previous interest in Phoenix’s Bradley Beal if they intend to pursue a trade for a player in the $50 million range.” A host of reporters from The Athletic believes Milwaukee is interested in facilitating a Butler trade because they are interested in reducing payroll to beneath the second apron. To do this, they would aggregate salaries to bring in a max-salaried star.

Let’s first talk about Beal. In the opinion of many, he has the worst contract in the NBA with $53.7m due next year, a $57.1m player option in 2026–27, and a no-trade clause. He’s also not willing to waive it unless he’s going to a winning team. Miami has reportedly expressed disinterest in acquiring Butler for Beal, so the idea is that Beal would be going to a third team. Stein believes Milwaukee could be that third team.

Now, not only would the Heat likely need to be incentivized with at least one of those firsts to trade away Butler, but certainly the team who acquires Beal would need to be incentivized with one of them too. So in order for this trade to be legal for the Bucks, they would need to combine Khris Middleton with Brook Lopez. Middleton plus a trio of Bobby Portis, Pat Connaughton, and one other player would be dicey because if they trade more than one player for Beal, the Bucks would be hard-capped at $188.9m. They’d have two weeks after the deal to get the roster back to 14 guys from 12 but only $2m in space beneath that cap. That might be enough to sign two minimum players to prorated contracts, but it depends when the trade is finalized.

The Athletic’s sextet of reporters also speculate the Bulls’ Zach LaVine as someone who could be of interest to Milwaukee instead of Beal. Again, this is not even a rumor, it is just something they think would work instead. His contract is cheaper, but not by much and it’s the same length as Beal’s, so while it would be easier to acquire, the trade would have to expand even further and would still require Middleton. LaVine is younger than both Middleton and Beal, but has injury question marks of his own. Plus, I really don’t think his fit would be good alongside Giannis and Dame.

There’s your latest on Butler and how the Bucks could tangentially get involved, even if it doesn’t send him to Milwaukee. What do you think about swapping out Khris Middleton and others including Bobby Portis or Brook Lopez for Bradley Beal or Zach LaVine? Feel free to discuss.

UPDATE: NBA insider Chris Haynes is reporting that “contrary to popular belief,” he was told that a connection between Beal and the Bucks is “non-existent.”