Jimmy Butler sent NBA fans into a frenzy Tuesday night when he showed up to the Heat’s game against Portland wearing Phoenix Suns-colored sneakers. And the timing couldn’t have been more interesting.
The Miami Heat star’s footwear choice came on the same night the Suns made a major move, trading their 2031 first-round pick to Utah for three future first-rounders.
Coincidence? Maybe not.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst dropped a bombshell on his latest Hoop Collective podcast: “Jimmy’s No. 1 focus is getting traded, preferably, to the Phoenix Suns. Everything else is secondary.”
It’s getting pretty serious behind the scenes too. NBA insider Shams Charania reports that Butler has now demanded a trade three times – including face-to-face meetings with Heat president Pat Riley and team owner Micky Arison just last week.
The Suns seem to be gearing up for something big. Before Tuesday’s deal with Utah, they were pretty light on trade assets – just their 2031 first-rounder and a single second-round pick from Denver. Now they’ve got three more first-round picks to work with.
Those new picks aren’t exactly straightforward though. They’ll get the worst pick between Cleveland and Minnesota in 2025, and in 2027 and 2029 they’ll get the lowest pick among Cleveland, Minnesota, and Utah.
But here’s what makes this whole situation really interesting: Butler chose to wear those Suns-themed shoes – decked out in Phoenix’s signature yellow, black, and orange – right as all this was going down.
The Heat and Suns have until February 6 to make any deals happen. With both teams suddenly making moves, it looks like we might be heading toward something big.
The trade deadline’s just two weeks away. And if Butler’s shoe choice is any indication, things could get really interesting really fast.
