Jimmy Butler doesn't mind being left in the dark with trade rumors
On the NBA’s 2016 draft night, for the first hour of the proceedings at least, the name on everyone’s lips was “Jimmy Butler.” Everyone knew Ben Simmons would be taken No. 1 overall by Philadelphia, Woj already had picks 1-through-19 (all 19-year olds, incidentally) tweeted out, but just about every other tweet besides those in the moments leading up to the draft had the Chicago Bulls swingman potentially on his way toward either Boston or, in a new twist, a Minnesota Timberwolves team fronted by ex-Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.
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Chicago fans were apoplectic at the thought of dealing a player who averages over 20 points while playing standout defense for a prospect that someday could average over 20 points while playing standout defense, but such is the lack of faith Bulls fans have in their team’s front office that many expected a deal to eventually be agreed upon.
Butler? To him it wasn’t much of a thing. From a talk with the Chicago Sun-Times, as Butler worked out with his Team USA mates in preparation for this summer’s Olympics:
“It’s not their job to report anything to me,’’ Butler said of general manager Gar Forman and VP of basketball operations John Paxson. “I’m a big boy. I don’t need you to tell me, ‘No, you’re not going to be traded.’ I know it’s a business and if it happens it happens, but I’m here.
“I don’t pay attention to it. I was in the gym working out during the draft. My phone was blowing up, but what can I do? I can go in the office and be like, ‘Hey please don’t trade me?’ If they were going to do that, that’s on them not me.’’
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“That has nothing to do with me,’’ Butler said on Thursday. “I don’t move guys. Just like I always say – people are going to think what they want to think.’’
This is just about the opposite of Rudy Gay’s complaints from earlier in the week.
You might recall that Gay complained about the paucity of knowledge his Sacramento Kings left him struggling with as they worked around their particular offseason, a complaint that led Kings general manager Vlade Divac to sniff that Rudy had Divac’s phone number (they’ve since talked).
In this instance, Butler looks (as the Sun-Times always looks to push) like the good soldier – understanding that trades are part of the business, and that it’s not his team to run. Rudy Gay looks like the snippy would-be star, while Team USA patriot Jimmy Butler comes off as the focused company man.
There’s a difference, though. Jimmy Butler has never been traded.
Butler has never had to sweat out that trade rumors that have dogged Rudy Gay since his literal official introduction to the NBA, when he was drafted by Houston, only to be dealt to Memphis on draft night. That deal – for Shane Battier and Stromile Swift – immediately set off a bit of a firestorm between the old and new guard. Sure, Battier was the four-year Dukie always ready with a cerebral quote, but he was a no-stats All-Star being dealt for a player that looked like the next great basketball athlete.
That same conversation popped up again in 2013, when a new Grizzlies regime bet on addition by subtraction in dealing Gay to Toronto. Gay was held up as the ultimate in old school inefficiency, all long-range two-pointers and pointless box score stats. Rare is the sub-star player that is dealt from city to city, only to have scads of newspaper and internet “ink” spent on his worth as a contributor, but Rudy Gay got it twice in a career.
By the time he was dealt to Sacramento later that year in a salary dump, well, you can understand why Rudy Gay might not be too keen on hearing his names pop up in trade rumors again. As they have all summer, while the Kings endlessly tool around.
Jimmy Butler has never been told to move to another city, he’s working on a maximum contract and if he sustains his current play he’ll sign yet another max deal when he opts out of his contract in 2019. He doesn’t have to worry, as Rudy Gay does, about possibly being dealt to another team. A losing team, or a team that could bring him off the bench, lower his stat totals, and cost him money once he hits free agency. Gay could opt out of his $14.3 million deal next summer and presumably make more in under an increased salary cap, but there are no guarantees. He might be one of the few that sticks with his old-cap contract.
With that in place, Butler has the right attitude. To paraphrase Ron Nasty, Jimmy Butler shouldn’t worry unduly about where he could possibly be sent to. Especially (and this is in the days before Chicago, for better or worse, hired Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade) if that meant joining a potent up-and-comer in Minnesota or Boston.
The fallout from The Great Cap Increase of 2016 isn’t over. Not only will teams feature loads of players they’ll possibly regret signing, but heaps of teams still have plenty of cap flexibility (if not outright cap space) to facilitate deals. The front is quiet now, but the trade market should run far deeper than Russell Westbrook’s impending placement from now until February. There will be plenty of players on edge, and plenty of links on Twitter.
How each individual reacts to the inevitable rumor mill will be telling. And, in just about every case between freaked-out and blissfully unaware, understandable in their reaction.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
