After soft-starting a trade request from the Miami Heat last month, Jimmy Butler upped the ante on Thursday. After a postgame press conference in which he said he wanted to “regain the joy of playing basketball,” ESPN’s Shams Charania and Brian Windhorst reported that Butler “indicated” to the Heat that “he wants the team to have him.” exchanged”.

The Heat appear to be relenting, as they announced Friday that Butler will be suspended for seven games and that they are now open to offers for their lively star.

Heat president Pat Riley announced the day after Christmas that he would not trade Butler until the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 6, but he would hardly be the first manager to say one thing and do another. (Remember when Daryl Morey said he had no plans to trade Ben Simmons?) Butler appears to be best impersonating Simmons by quietly resigning from the Heat, which could force Riley into action in the coming weeks.

Even if the Heat move Butler, the Sixers don’t appear to have much of a chance of acquiring him.

Both the Sixers and Heat are currently above the first frontcourt but below the second frontcourt. That means both teams can’t take back more salary than they spend in a deal via a standard trade exception, but they are allowed to combine two contracts to get a higher salary. That’s notable considering the size of Butler’s contract and the structure of the Sixers’ cap sheet.

Butler is making $48.8 million this season. Joel Embiid ($51.4 million) and Paul George ($49.2 million) are the only two Sixers players who earn more than him. If the Sixers wanted to acquire Butler without bringing in either of those two, they would have to send Tyrese Maxey ($35.1 million) and at least $13.7 million in additional salary. The chance of that happening is about zero.

Embiid is not trade-eligible until after the end of the regular season, making George the only realistic option for the Sixers to acquire Butler by the trade deadline. However, if the Heat are reluctant to give Butler a two-year, $113 million max extension, why would they be interested in accepting the four-year, $211.6 million max contract that George signed last offseason signed with the Sixers?

However, it’s worth noting that the Sixers reportedly “tried to sign Miami to a Butler deal” last offseason before signing George in free agency, according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Goodwill added, “Embiid wanted a reunion with Butler and pushed for it.” (This isn’t the first time he’s reported this either.)

Embiid hasn’t really hidden his affinity for Butler since his departure. In 2021, he told reporters that the Sixers “got rid of Jimmy, which I still think is a mistake” because they wanted to put the ball more in Simmons’ hands. After the Heat eliminated the Sixers in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals, Embiid said, “I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t wish he was my teammate. I still don’t know how we let him go, but I wish I could still go into battle with him.”

If the Sixers were truly interested in reuniting with Butler, the easiest route would be a direct Butler/George trade, with Miami also sending a minimum contract to either the Sixers or a third team. (The Sixers could absorb this player via the minimum exception.) If the Heat aren’t interested in George, the Sixers could try to cobble together a multi-team trade in which they acquire Butler and send George to a third team. Maybe the Golden State Warriors or Sacramento Kings would be interested in such a setting? (Then again, why wouldn’t they just want to take over Butler outright?)

While both Butler and Embiid may be longing for a reunion, Charania and Windhorst reported that Butler “has no plans to provide the Heat with a list of preferred destinations.” He is reportedly “open to playing somewhere other than Miami,” which should expand the pool of potential trade candidates beyond the original list of Warriors, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns that Charania released in mid-December.

Don’t ever count Morey and Co. out for getting creative, especially when there’s a star on the market that their franchise centerpiece has been pining for in recent years. But if Miami doesn’t want George in exchange for Butler, the Sixers would have to court the league to work out a multi-team deal that makes sense for all parties. Good luck with that.

Unless otherwise stated, all statistics above NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the glass or Basketball reference. All salary information about Salary Swish and salary cap information about RealGM.