NBA Insider Names Frontrunner to Pursue Jimmy Butler Trade With Heat

The Miami forward could be on the move.

Jimmy Butler before the Heat's 121–111 win over the Suns on Dec. 7, 2024. / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

This NBA season is still young, but trade speculation is already surrounding Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler.

At 13-10, the Heat sit in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. However, Butler is 35, at a contract impasse with Miami, and the holder of a $52 million player option for the 2026 season.

On Saturday, veteran NBA insider Marc Stein suggested that one team above all others is a candidate to trade for Butler—the Golden State Warriors.

"League insiders continue to describe Golden State, as things currently stand, as the only team of the four most frequently mentioned as potential Butler suitors as having an interest in the 35-year-old that could eventually lead to some substantive trade talks," Stein wrote on his Substack.

Other teams believed to have sniffed around Butler's availability include the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns. According to Stein, however, those teams are all playing second fiddle to the Warriors.

Butler, for his part, is averaging 18.6 points per game this season—his lowest average scoring output since 2014.

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