One team not on Jimmy Butler’s list of preferred destinations may be trying their luck anyway.
Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reported on Friday that the Milwaukee Bucks appear to be emerging as the “main dark horse” to trade for the disgruntled Miami Heat star Butler. Siegel notes that Milwaukee is in the second apron of the luxury tax, complicating their potential pathway for Butler. But Siegel adds, assuming that they can first move someone like Pat Connaughton in a separate trade to get under the second-apron cutoff and be able to aggregate salaries to get to Butler’s $48.7 million, that the Bucks would be willing to trade away forward Khris Middleton as part of a package for Butler.
The 35-year-old Butler, armed with the threat of being an expensive rental who could leave in free agency this summer, has primarily been interested in moving to the Western Conference (with one particular contender especially piquing his interest). In fact, Butler has even supposedly been telling certain teams who aren’t on his list not to trade for him.
But the Bucks have something of a homecourt advantage here in that Butler went to college at Marquette University in Milwaukee. They also have a win-now core duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard (the latter of whom Butler once tried to team up with) to offer. Though it is uncertain if the Heat will be tempted by anything the Bucks have to offer in a trade, Milwaukee will certainly be looking to give it a go here.
