As we enter into January, the NBA trade season has started and already there have been numerous big rumors spreading around the league. Some are De’Aaron Fox leaving the Kings, Bradley Beal leaving the Suns, or Brandon Ingram leaving the Pelicans. Biggest of them all is by far Jimmy Butler leaving Miami, and it’s been a rocky end to a very solid tenure with the team.

Recently, Jimmy Butler has been changing his mind whether he is open to playing with anyone or specific teams like the Phoenix Suns or Houston Rockets. Apex student, Max Quiocho, said “Jimmy Butler is a little washed, but he still has a little in the tank.” He has a fair point, not every team is willing to risk their future on an aging player. Out of the 29 other teams in the league, there are only three that are real possibilities: the Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, and the Memphis Grizzlies. Even though, Butler has stated he wants to play with the Suns, they have no assets to get Butler unless Bradley Beal waives his no trade clause and there is a very low chance of that happening. With the Golden State Warriors the fit of Jimmy Butler, Steph Curry and Draymond Green would be pretty good even at their older age. The problem is they would lose a little too much depth than it is worth for them. They would most likely need to give up Brandin Podziemski or Andrew Wiggins who are both solid rotational pieces that are not worth losing for a 35-year-old Jimmy Butler. Memphis would definitely be a good destination for Jimmy, seeing as his playstyle would really work well with the team. They would be able to give the Heat a pretty solid package for him with G. G. Jackson and former DPOY Marcus Smart. Unfortunately, Jimmy has outwardly stated that he does not want to go to Memphis and why would a team trade for someone who does not want to play for them.

The best option for Miami is to trade Jimmy Butler to Houston for a couple reasons. The Rockets have draft assets, they have way too many good players that do not get any playing time, and need one more player to get over the hump of the strong western conference. This benefits the Heat in that they can start a rebuild at the end of the Jimmy Butler era with the picks and young players from the trade. The Rockets could offer them Tari Eason, Dillion Brooks and picks for Butler, which is not something to scoff at. Tari Eason was a good draft for the Rockets, but he has been buried under a really deep Rockets team and has not seen a lot of minutes. With Brooks, he has not been the greatest player, but has seen good improvement ever since moving to Huston. I think trading for Jimmy is an overall positive for the Rockets, adding scoring and still keeping a very good and young 9 man rotation. It would be reasonable for that team to make the finals out west and to even get Jimmy Butler a ring after all these years. It is disappointing that Butler’s time in Miami is coming to a close, but if he does end up leaving the franchise, we can only hope that the team at least gets a good deal from it.