The NBA trade deadline is less than a fortnight away, and gears continue to shift as contending and rebuilding clubs decide whether to be buyers or sellers.
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With the morning of February 7 (AEDT) looming, these are six of the teams holding the cards as more inside intel comes to light.
PHOENIX SUNS
The major storyline surrounding the Suns remains their increasing desperation to orchestrate a trade for Miami superstar Jimmy Butler, who, by all reports, is steadfast in his desire for a move to the desert.
Phoenix has won seven of its past 10 games, but it still holds a mediocre — relative to pre-season expectations — 22-21 record; good for just 10th place in the juggernaut-laden Western Conference.
Veteran ESPN NBA insiders Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps report landing Butler before the deadline ‘remains (the Suns’) top objective’, and they haven’t been shy in showing it.
Phoenix, whose desperation level leading into Feb. 7 Windhorst and Bontemps dubbed ‘extremely high’, has already busied itself making moves, trading for former Charlotte Hornets big Nick Richards and a second-round pick in exchange for forward Josh Okogie and three second-rounders.
Then, more recently and more importantly in terms of its Butler pursuit, it dealt its unprotected 2031 first-round pick to the Utah Jazz for three lesser-value firsts: either the 29th or 30th pick in this year’s draft, plus the worst of Utah, Cleveland and Minnesota’s picks in both the 2027 and 2029 drafts. Put simply, the franchise is mortgaging its future on a prospective Kevin Durant-Devin Booker-Butler mega-trio.
Those picks allow for versatility in negotiations between now and the deadline, but the tall task of offloading guard Bradley Beal’s burdensome deal remains, with the 31-year-old guaranteed US$53.6 million next season and, provided he opts into his player option, US$57.1 million in 2026-27.
Remember, due to needing to match incoming and outgoing contracts in any potential deal, offloading Beal’s gargantuan salary is the only feasible way the Suns and general manager James Jones get a Butler arrangement over the line.
Additionally, there is no guarantee the Suns will on-trade all three, or even two, of those Jazz first-rounders. Regardless, most believe numerous teams would have to involve themselves to help the five-time All-NBA forward Butler join forces with Durant and Booker.
CHICAGO BULLS
The Bulls, having dropped seven of their past 10 games and now barely clinging on to a play-in spot, appear sure-fire sellers come the deadline.
Chicago’s first-round pick this year is owed to San Antonio, unless it falls in the top-10. It is capital this middling once-giant must retain, which lends to the idea the Bulls will opt to sell at the deadline.
All-Star guard Zach LaVine, shooting a career-best 45 (!) per cent from three with 24.0 points per game, and double-double machine Nikola Vucevic are the two big names to keep an eye on.
Windhorst and Bontemps relayed executives’ beliefs the Bulls are ‘seeking change’. They added Chicago has ‘made it known’ it will listen to rival offers for LaVine and Vucevic, with LaVine possibly a viable piece in a complex Butler deal and Vucevic linked to the Golden State Warriors. The Bulls could also consider taking on hefty salary if it means acquiring more capital.
Lonzo Ball and Coby White have also had their names thrown around in less-substantiated rumours, but it speaks to the aforementioned mindset the Bulls are likely entering February 7 with.
MIAMI HEAT
Despite the continued noise, and while the Heat are under no obligation to deal him away, Windhorst and Bontemps’ sources believe there is ‘motivation on both sides’ of the Jimmy Butler tug-of-war to complete a deal amid persistent rumblings.
Butler, who has spoken openly about the absence of ‘joy’ in his basketball life, copped a Heat-imposed seven-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, continues to be strongly linked with a move to the Phoenix Suns.
While Butler’s points-per-game figure currently sits a smidgen below his career number, he is shooting a career-best 54 per cent from the field at 35 years of age.
With Butler on the hook for US$48.7 million this season and a 2025-26 player option guaranteeing US$52.4 million, Windhorst and Bontemps note this is a saga that could ‘extend into the summer’.
BROOKLYN NETS
Twelfth-placed Brooklyn isn’t going anywhere in a hurry in terms of contention, and according to the ‘league decision-makers’ Windhorst and Bontemps have spoken to, the Nets have the player ‘most likely to be traded’ by the deadline in guard-forward Cam Johnson.
In deciding to ultimately trade Johnson, who is averaging an impressive 19.4 points per game including a 41.9 per cent three-point clip, the Nets could acquire multiple younger assets, whether in the form of players or draft picks.
Among the likelier candidates to land Johnson are Indiana and Sacramento, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who said: “I’m not ready to say the Pacers are the Cam Johnson favourite right now, but of all the teams I’ve heard that have had interest, they’re the one team in the league of late that I have not been told that interest has cooled down, or there hasn’t been talks.”
Golden State could also be considered a favourable destination, with any potential Warriors package sure to include x-factor forward Jonathan Kuminga and a first-round pick.
Any Brooklyn trade of Johnson wouldn’t be the club’s first, nor even second of the season, having already offloaded forward Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton to the Los Angeles Lakers for guard D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks. Prior to that, the Nets sent German guard Dennis Schroder to the Golden State Warriors.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
Golden State doesn’t seem likely to sell the farm in hopes of extending a Stephen Curry-led championship window, with Windhorst and Bontemps characterising the Warriors’ level of deadline desperation as ‘low’.
The seven-time champions have gone 4-6 in their past 10 contests, currently sitting square at 22-22 and outside play-in seeding as their season sits at something of a crossroads.
And while ascending forward Jonathan Kuminga — linked most recently with Brooklyn in a potential Cam Johnson deal centred on Kuminga and a top-three-protected first-round pick — has consistently found his name among trade rumblings, Curry himself has warned against making potentially ‘future-depleting’ moves.
“Desperate trades or desperate moves that deplete the future, there is a responsibility on allowing or keeping the franchise in a good space and good spot when it comes to where we leave this thing when we’re done,” Curry recently said of teams’ urgency to make roster upgrades at the deadline.
“Doesn’t mean that you’re not trying to get better. It doesn’t mean that you’re not active.
“Nobody wants to be stale or be in a situation where you’re passing up opportunities. But it doesn’t mean that you’re desperate just flinging assets all around the place just because you want to do something.”
The Warriors have already made a somewhat splashy play this season, acquiring facilitator Dennis Schroeder from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for guard De’Anthony Melton and three second-round picks.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS
Windhorst and Bontemps surfaced veterans Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton as potential trade candidates for the Bucks, who are thought to be surveying for an ‘impact player’ in their hopes of matching the levels of Cleveland, Boston and New York come playoff-time.
Rightfully, maximising the peak performance of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, as well as All-Star guard Damian Lillard, is front-of-mind for the Bucks’ front office.
Along with Jimmy Butler, which seems far more of an outside chance, Milwaukee has been linked with New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, who is currently sidelined with a left ankle injury. That nagging injury absence could play a hand in preventing such a swap to eventuate, however.
In any case, given their possible interest in wings such as Butler and Ingram, as well as the fact Middleton and Connaughton could be on the chopping block, the Bucks may see an upgrade in the frontcourt as of utmost importance come the deadline.
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