Rockets GM Rafael Stone Does Not Hesitate While Turning Down Any Possibility That The Rockets Would Trade For Jimmy Butler

Michael Reaves. Getty Images.

Our Tuesday started with Shams dropping the nugget that the time has finally come for the Heat to legitimately consider listening to offers for Jimmy Butler. In that Shams report, he listed the three teams that Butler would prefer to be traded to (DAL/GS/HOU) and in that blog, I broke down how that gets a little tricky once you look at the financials of everyone involved combined with the contract status of Butler and the fact that he can leave any team he may be traded to during the season once we get to the summer by turning down his player option.

The money aspect of Butler's preferred list basically took the Mavs off the table unless they got SUPER creative, but even then they I find it unlikely that they would gut their team for an aging Butler who can't space the floor around Luka. The Rockets were an interesting idea given that I'm sure Ime would be a fan and they do have some young talent signed to big $, so they technically wouldn't have to gut the roster just to make the money work.

Unfortunately for Butler, if you put any stock into what the Rockets GM Rafael Stone just said today, the Rockets might have already taken themselves out of the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes before it even really gets underway

Now, you'd have to be insane to think a GM would ever go on the radio and openly admit that they're interested and ready to make a trade like this. So there's something to the idea that even if the Rockets were down to do make a trade, at this stage of the process you deny it publicly.

But you know what?

The Rockets currently sit at 16-8 and in the 3 spot in the West, just 0.5 games back of a top 2 seed. They own the 4th best point differential in the West (6th in the NBA) and are a VERY legit 10-5 vs teams .500 or better. That number ties OKC for the most wins against "good" teams in the NBA. They have a good mix of young talent who looks better and better by the game and have finally started to trend in the right direction. Sure it'd be great if they could get off the FVV contract, but his final $44M is a team option next year so it's not like that's a huge deal.

The point is, they are a team on the rise who is already competing at a high level and barring injury looked poised to be a team that's comfortably in the Top 6 and even fighting for homecourt in the first round. With that in mind, it's not surprising that at this moment in time, the Rockets would be "out" on a trade like this. It's not like they need to find ways to maximize the end of a star's career like we're seeing in LA or GS. Maybe if they were underachieving and their defense was a mess it might make more sense, but that's not the case for the Rockets. They are one of the better teams in the West with a top 3 defense in the NBA. They don't technically need Jimmy Butler to be good let alone trade away young pieces for a player who could leave for nothing.

Now, that doesn't mean we can't get to the summer and we learn that the two sides work out some sort of sign and trade if the Rockets and Heat both flame out this year, but even then I'm not sure they're better off.

This just goes to show you that in this new CBA world where teams have to be super smart about how they allocate their cap space, teams simply aren't lining up to trade for big-salary players. Whether that's Jimmy Butler, Brandon Ingram ($36M expiring), or Zach LaVine ($43M, 1 more guaranteed year left after this season), if you're someone who makes around $40M+ there just aren't going to be a ton of available options for you, especially if you can walk at the end of your deal.