Butler as good as gone?
Many had presumed that the Boston Celtics were well on their way to trading for Jimmy Butler after they surprisingly traded away the first overall pick in this year’s draft. However, early yesterday morning, news broke that Butler was actually pushing to be traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It didn’t take long after that for the news to become instead that the Bulls were actively shopping Butler and that regardless of whether it was to Cleveland or Boston, Butler was “gone.”
NBA Trade Rumors: Bulls' Jimmy Butler is 'gone,' it's just a matter of Celtics or Cavs https://t.co/vbzSpRO7G8 pic.twitter.com/GHAiftP6rk
— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) June 20, 2017
As if that wasn’t confusing enough, it was reported in the evening by TNT’s David Aldridge that in fact Jimmy Butler wanted to stay with Chicago. So who or what to believe is anyone’s guess essentially!
Per source, Jimmy Butler has informed Cavs that he wants to stay in Chicago rather than be traded to Cleveland.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) June 21, 2017
I personally think that Chicago’s asking price will be pretty high, but given all the rumors that have surrounded Jimmy in the past, it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up moving him. The main reason this affects the Jazz even though they are likely in no way in the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes, is that wherever he ends up may have some impact on the Gordon Hayward decision.
Butler is a similar player to Hayward and his addition to a team like Boston could either close the door on Hayward wanting to sign there or make the Celtics’ pitch more compelling, providing Hayward with the opportunity to play for a wing-heavy super team. If anyone’s able to get into Gordon’s mind and let me know which way he would lean, that would be great. Otherwise, that’s about all we’d know in that regard for the moment.