NBA Trade Deadline portfolio: Jimmy Butler

The Chicago Bulls have dissolved into a rudderless mess of a franchise. The pieces don’t fit, the roster design doesn’t fit the coach’s scheme, and the veterans are at odds with each other. Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade want the team to play harder, while Rajon Rondo has weighed the former two’s leadership and found it wanting. The net result is the worst 3-point shooting team in the league, clinging onto the seventh best record in the East, walking on the eggshells of cultural collapse. At least as it pertains to on the court performance, none of this is the fault of Butler.

Butler has been a top 10 player this season by the eye-test and virtually every player metric. He’s a rarity in being a two-way wing who can initiate the offense and serve as the co-primary handler as an ironclad number two option on a championship caliber team. The word “franchise player” gets tossed around too cavalierly, and while Butler is a notch below true players of that make in LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard (with Giannis Antetokounmpo set to take the league by storm here) on the wing, he’s as close as it gets to the rarest player archetype in basketball.

Butler’s skill-set in incredibly versatile. He’s a high usage pick-and-roll finishing maestro who can create offense for himself off the dribble in isolation as well. His top offensive skill has always been foul-drawing, and he’s even upped his trips to the line to 9.5 free throw attempts per game this season, an absurd number. He’s by no means a knockdown shooter but Butler shoots respectable enough on 3-pointers where he can also play off ball and be effective. Butler needs to be paired with another creator as he can’t harness all the playmaking burden for others, but when you package his versatility as a scorer, defender, and playmaking, he’s an elite well-rounded contributor.

Read More: Paul Millsap’s trade deadline portfolio

Butler’s main selling point is this: he’s the only top ten player who is reportedly available, and those kinds of players rarely ever become available. Let’s not overthink this.

This transitions nicely into why exactly Butler, being a top ten player and knowing how insanely difficult those kinds of players are to acquire, is available in the first place. The answer traces back to the main point of the introduction: the Bulls are a rudderless franchise.

Instead of building around Butler this offseason as the primary creator with floor spacing and secondary handling ability that would actually fit Fred Hoiberg’s intended motion scheme, the Bulls famously did the opposite in acquiring two past their prime perimeter veterans who need the ball and shrink the floor for Butler. The result has been as expected: the worst 3-point shooting team in basketball and a below-average offense. After the Derrick Rose trade the time was ripe to hand the keys over to Butler and compliment his skill-set. The Bulls apparently thought otherwise.

Butler’s frustration has boiled to the surface, sparking a myriad of public comments by teammates because of calling out players for not playing hard enough. Leaks from the media, especially ESPN’s Ryen Russillo’s story about where Butler’s distrust of the Bulls’ front office originates from, has further created a toxic environment and could possibly lead to Butler’s departure.

The Bulls aren’t trading Butler away for 50 cents on the dollar, and because Butler is easily the best player available on the market, it limits his probability of being moved because few teams are in good enough position to trade for the 27-year-old without gutting their team and still be in position to compete. The odds of a trade occurring in regards to a specific player are never likely, but in cases where potential destinations are reduced significantly, the end result becomes even less likely.

The Boston Celtics are the realistic leaders in the clubhouse to acquire Butler, and there’s a good argument to support the fact that if Boston wants Butler they can probably have him. The conversation starter is the Brooklyn Nets’ 2017 first round pick, which right now is basically a one-in-four shot at the No. 1 pick in the draft and no worse than No. 4 overall. Boston can really up the ante by also including the Nets’ unprotected 2018 first round pick, which again projects to have a one-in-four chance at the No. 1 pick in an even stronger at the top 2018 draft. In terms of return, it’s going to be near impossible to beat the best odds to acquire franchise players in the draft, with Markelle Fultz in 2017 and Luka Doncic, DeAndre Ayton or Michael Porter Jr. in 2018.

The Celtics have the player salary to easily match Butler’s $17,522,209 (pre five percent trade kicker), either with Amir Johnson’s $12,000,000 expiring contract or Tyler Zeller’s $8,000,000 non-guaranteed salary next season with an early guarantee date. A package of the two aforementioned Nets picks, another young piece like Avery Bradley and Tyler Zeller for matching purposes is going to be hard to beat. The question is whether it pushes Boston near enough to Cleveland to justify sacrificing the future for Butler’s window, or if the Celtics are willing to include both Nets picks. As for the former, probably not, but they aren’t going to get a better crack at a star in the Al Horford and Isaiah Thomas window. For the Bulls, there isn’t a more viable avenue to expedite a rebuild.

The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves could also enter the Butler sweepstakes, although both have inferior realistic pieces to trade. Assuming Nikola Jokic is off the table, and he should be, depending on how the Bulls view Jamal Murray there isn’t the same potential star haul as Boston could provide. A package involving some of the following: Murray, Emmanuel Mudiay, Will Barton, Juancho Hernangomez and Gary Harris plus first round picks is nothing to scoff at, but Denver is not really in position to compete and to capitalize on Butler in his window.

The Timberwolves have Andrew Wiggins or Zach LaVine to pair with draft compensation to acquire Butler, but with the latter’s recent ACL tear and the former unlikely to move, barring an unforeseen development it’s difficult to see a trade occurring there.

Denver and Minnesota could both play crucial roles in driving up the price for Boston to acquire Butler, which is exactly how the Bulls should play it. It’s probably going too far to say it’s Boston or bust for Butler being traded, but Boston is really the only team with the blue chip assets who are also in position to compete post acquisition to capitalize on Butler’s prime.

Next: The 20 best NBA players who could be available at the trade deadline

Boston is holding all the cards here. Do they think Butler can move the needle for them over Cleveland? Could landing Butler to pair with Al Horford and Thomas lead to another star free agency get?

All eyes are on the Windy City and Bean Town as the trade deadline approaches, as both have arguably the only ability to shift landscape of the league.