Could Pelicans be missing piece in Jimmy Butler trade saga?

The New Orleans Pelicans are reportedly interested in trading for Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler as they try to get off Brandon Ingram’s contract, according to The Stein Line’s Marc Stein and Yahoo! Sports’ Jake Fischer.

New Orleans has been navigating its own trade scenarios for Ingram after the Pelicans — like Miami with Butler — were unable to reach an extension agreement with the former All-Star this past offseason. Sources told The Stein Line that the Pelicans, after Ingram’s $36 million expiring contract had been discussed by rival teams in various trade proposals designed to help facilitate Butler’s Miami exit, decided to approach the Heat themselves about swapping Ingram for Butler.

Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro, however, says that does not mean the Pelicans want to land Butler thanks to two big caveats, the first being that Butler does not want to go to New Orleans.

Start with this – Jimmy doesn't want to go to New Orleans. 2) Acquiring Jimmy would put NO into the tax – they can't hold Butler's money. Can't be a tax team. Either Miami or the agent just using Pelicans as leverage.

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) January 31, 2025

The second stems around New Orleans trying to get out of the luxury tax.

It also doesn’t help that New Orleans is a dismal 12-36. Only the Utah Jazz (10-36) sport a worse mark in the Western Conference standings.

Butler is making $48.8 million this year compared to Ingram’s $36 million mark.

Along with the Pelicans, the Milwaukee Bucks (Khris Middleton), Sacramento Kings (De’Aaron Fox), Chicago Bulls (Zach LaVine) and Suns (Bradley Beal) are among the teams with big enough contracts that could help in facilitating a Butler trade.

The latest reporting from Gambadoro, Stein and Fischer comes after multiple reports earlier this week indicated the Heat are reportedly dropping their asking price and was circling back on trade talks with teams that include the Suns.

A big reason for that was Butler’s third suspension coming down after walking out of practice following word of his benching.

Golden State Warriors a potential landing spot for Jimmy Butler?

The Warriors could be a potential landing spot for Butler, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.

Bontemps adds the Heat’s dropped asking price for Butler in addition to the potential pairing with star Stephen Curry could be enticing for Golden State.

The Bradley Beal hangup remains

Beal continues to be the biggest blocker to any Butler-Suns deal thanks to his no-trade clause and $110 million left on his current deal after this year.

We saw an example of that on Monday when it was reported that the Suns guard would not waive his no-trade clause in a potential trade that would ship off Beal to the Chicago Bulls.

According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz, Beal does not want to play somewhere cold or on a team with a losing record.

The Heat also don’t seem keen on adding Beal, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Friday despite their willingness to take players with future money on their contracts.

The stalemate with Beal hasn’t stopped the Suns from looking at other avenues, too, with Windhorst adding Phoenix has been working for weeks on two-, three-, four- and five-team trade concepts to land Butler.

Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, being the father of Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein in addition to Butler and Heat president Pat Riley being at odds have only added to the saga.

“Everything about this negotiation has been too personal,” said an executive from one of the teams that has been involved in the expansive talks. “It was hard enough to find a way, but that aspect has made it harder.”

Related

Suns fans can both love a Jimmy Butler trade and hate everything it representsJimmy Butler walks out of practice and is now suspended indefinitelyReport: Suns expected to trade Nurkic, won't field calls on Booker or DurantPhoenix Suns’ Devin Booker misses out on being named 2025 NBA All-Star Game reserveSuns revert back to costly, game-changing tumble in loss to T-WolvesESPN ranks Dillon Brooks No. 76 in top-100 NBA players ranking