On January 10th, Beijing time, with the deepening of the schedule, the Butler trade incident has taken a new turn. After Butler's team named ideal destinations such as the Rockets, Mavericks, Warriors, and Suns, the Heat felt humiliated and suspended Butler for a week on the grounds that he was harming the team, and publicly put him up for sale to the entire league.
However, as time passed, with the lifting of the suspension approaching, the Heat did not receive a satisfactory offer, coupled with the poor performance of the Heat during Butler's suspension. Therefore, the Heat's accompanying reporter revealed that if Butler is not traded by next Saturday, Riley will welcome him back and re-enlist him to continue leading the team to compete for the championship. However, at that time, Butler will become a free agent this summer and can freely choose his ideal destination, leaving the Heat with nothing.
Perhaps in the eyes of the Heat, Butler, who led the team to the finals twice in five years, would be very popular in the trade market, and they expected to send him away shortly after the trade window opened. However, things did not go as Riley had hoped. Although the Suns showed an extremely positive attitude, there were even reports that the Suns had prepared $121 million over two years for Butler, but unfortunately, the Suns' core chip, Beal, was not willing to cooperate. After learning from the media that he might become a bargaining chip, he openly used his trade veto power to tell the world that he was the one holding the initiative.
Despite reports from NBA insiders that Butler has made it clear to all teams that he will only sign with the Suns, he cannot control the situation like Beal, as the trade initiative lies with the Heat. In this regard, Warriors star Green also mentioned the grievances between Butler and the Heat in an interview program. Green believes that Butler will either be traded by Riley to a mediocre team or have to obediently return home and finish the season.
At the same time, NBA insiders also revealed that the Warriors currently have no intention of offering Butler a maximum contract, and are even more unwilling to sacrifice Wiggins and Kuminga to trade for Butler. This means that the Warriors have officially announced an important decision to withdraw from the competition for Butler, bidding farewell to him completely! After all, apart from Wiggins and Kuminga, the Warriors have no decent chips to negotiate with the Heat, right?
Speaking of the Suns, according to NBA sources, Durant is also looking forward to teaming up with Butler, and once the trade is completed, Durant will also sign with the team. However, there is a very tricky problem facing the Suns, which is how to find a third-party team willing to take over Beal's contract and persuade Beal to give up his trade veto power. Only then can the Suns get Butler; otherwise, if they recruit Butler through signing during the offseason, the starting salaries of the Suns' four giants will explode, and even with money, the Suns cannot afford to have four top superstars on their team. Therefore, in the editor's view, the Suns' pursuit of Butler is likely to end in vain, with empty joy.