The Jimmy Butler era is over for the Miami Heat.
In a four-team deal with the Golden State Warriors, Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons, Miami agreed to send Butler to the Warriors and in return received Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, P.J. Tucker and a first-round pick. It’s worth noting that Miami has already agreed to ship off Tucker to the Toronto Raptors in a separate trade on Thursday.
In light of Butler going to Golden State, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that Miami wasn’t very motivated to part with all that much more than just Butler in a trade for Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant.
“There was a window for Kevin Durant to be traded to the Miami Heat,” Windhorst said. “And once the Warriors were out, instead of it being a three-team thing, it was sort of a two-team thing, with the Suns and the Warriors both potentially being able to negotiate with the Heat for Jimmy Butler. And I think the Suns were willing to negotiate. I don’t think they were anxious to trade Durant.
“… I think that the Suns’ asking price was gonna pretty high for Durant, and partially because of what they gave up to get him. And I think the reason that they were close on the three-way trade was that the Suns were going to be able to get Jimmy Butler-plus, as I was calling it in my conversations today. It was going to be Jimmy Butler plus some other things from the Warriors to get Durant.
