NBA Trade Rumors: The Houston Rockets are reportedly making a strong push to land Jimmy Butler from the Minnesota Timberwolves
Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets are always willing to get in the game for a big star if there’s one to be had, so it shouldn’t be surprising to see their name mentioned when it comes to Jimmy Butler, who is continued to be held hostage by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
And according to Houston area sports reporter Mark Berman, the Rockets are now making a “strong effort” to land Butler from the Wolves.
Houston doesn’t have a ton of pieces, but has been reportedly willing to offer something around Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker and a draft pick or two to land the all-star shooting guard. Would that be enough?
NBA sources confirm the #Rockets are making a strong effort to land Jimmy Butler in a trade with Minnesota.
— Mark Berman (@MarkBerman_) September 28, 2018
Apart from the “is this enough” question, there is another one that also needs to be answered. Why on earth would Thibs make this deal with Houston? It’s not like landing Gordon and Tucker would be their best option, and he would be moving Butler to a great situation and only be making a Western Conference opponent stronger.
It goes everything against trading 101.
Another way of thinking is that this could’ve been leaked by the Wolves in order to get another team, like the Miami Heat, to up their offer. All the smoke that we’ve heard over the last few days has revolved around Miami, so perhaps another team was thrown out in order to apply pressure on Pat Riley and the Heat to get a deal done sooner rather than later.
Who knows. Perhaps Houston is really gaining traction?
This is the dance that is played when it comes to trading a player as sought after as Butler. Thibs is hard set on getting value at this point, and isn’t just going to make a deal just for the heck of it. This might just be the move that gets the momentum back on track.