Could family connection lead to Pistons assisting in Jimmy Butler trade?

Salary cap issues and no-trade clauses complicate Jimmy Butler's desire to be traded to the Phoenix Suns. However, a family connection between the Suns and Detroit Pistons might help it get done.

Any deal between the Suns and the Heat will require additional teams to help since Phoenix is above the second luxury tax apron, and Miami is above the first. Neither team can take back more money in a trade than it sends out, so it needs a team with cap space to make the numbers work. That's where the Pistons come in.

Thanks to Detroit waiving and re-signing center Paul Reed last month, the team has $14M in salary cap space. It can absorb excess salaries or even take on high-priced guard Bradley Beal.

But Detroit's financial situation is not the only helpful factor. The front offices of the Pistons and Suns have a web of connections.

Suns CEO Jason Bartelstein worked in the Pistons' front office for eight years, rising to assistant general manager before leaving for Phoenix in 2023. The Suns' president's father is agent Mark Bartelstein, who just so happens to represent Beal. Phoenix assistant general manager Matty Tellem is the son of Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem, Bartelstein's former boss in Detroit.

That doesn't necessarily mean the Pistons are interested in Beal and his onerous contract, which pays him over $110M over the next two seasons. Even with shooting guard Jaden Ivey out indefinitely with a broken leg and the team finally above .500 for the first time since 2019, Detroit probably needs some sweeteners to accept Beal.

The front office connections mean that if Phoenix can find a home for Beal, the Pistons can rent their cap space to facilitate a Butler trade. It also helps that if the Suns' boss needs to know about Beal's wishes and his no-trade clause, he can call his father, and so can his assistant GM.

Butler may be in the midst of a divorce with the Heat, but family may be the factor that gets him to his next NBA home.