Latest Jimmy Butler rumor is proof All-Star wasn't serious about playing anywhere

The Jimmy Butler trade request saga grows yet another subplot.

Less than a week after Shams Charania reported that Jimmy Butler "is open to playing anywhere other than Miami," the Heat star decided... well, that's not entirely accurate. According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, Butler is letting some teams know that they should not trade for him.

"The Memphis Grizzlies, along with a few other teams, have received word that Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler has no interest in being traded there. So the message is being delivered, that a trade should not be attempted to acquire the All-Star forward," Haynes said via a video on his Twitter / X account.

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I won't lie — Butler not wanting to play for the Grizzlies is confounding me. In theory, Memphis represents everything Butler preaches. This team literally had the nickname "Grit and Grind" for like, a decade. Plus, the team is good already. They're close enough to NBA Finals contenders already that adding Jimmy Butler would put them squarely in the NBA's contender tier, if they're not there already.

On the list of teams Butler has been rumored to — Memphis, Golden State, Phoenix, Milwaukee — the Grizzlies are the only team that would truly be lifted to a contender with Butler on the roster. Those other teams are multiple moves away from competing, and Jimmy Butler himself does not take them to the elite level that Butler seems to think he will.

Maybe he just wants to live somewhere warm. I get it, January in Memphis probably isn't as balmy as January in Phoenix. Getting swept by OKC won't be that fun, but hey, I'm not here to judge.