Report: Heat Offered Jimmy Butler To Suns For Kevin Durant At NBA Trade Deadline

According to Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald, the Miami Heat offered Jimmy Butler to the Phoenix Suns for Kevin Durant at the February NBA trade deadline. 

Butler requested a trade from the Heat and was interested in getting traded to the Suns. 

Miami and Phoenix couldn’t agree to a deal, so the Heat traded Butler to the Golden State Warriors. 

The Suns will trade Durant this offseason and Miami is once again interested in trading for the two-time Finals MVP. 

“That Heat offer, according to a source, included Jimmy Butler (who was subsequently traded to Golden State), Josh Richardson, a first-round pick and potentially another component,” Jackson and Chiang wrote. “Five Reasons Sports reported that Miami offered Nikola Jovic as that fourth component, but that was disputed publicly by a close Butler associate.”

Durant, 36, has one year left on his contract. The future Hall of Famer will make $54.7 million next season. 

Durant, who has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and Suns, turns 37 in September. He averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists for Phoenix this season while shooting 52.7% from the field, 43.0% from 3 and 83.9% from the free-throw line.

According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks have expressed interest in trading for Durant. 

The Suns and Durant’s business partner, Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman, have met multiple times over the past week and are sifting through trade scenarios. 

Phoenix missed the playoffs this year, while the Cleveland Cavaliers swept Miami in the first round of the postseason. 

Durant won two rings and two Finals MVPs with the Warriors. He hasn’t reached the conference finals since leaving Golden State for Brooklyn in the summer of 2019. 

The Heat reached the NBA Finals twice (2020, 2023) in the Butler era, losing both times.