NBA Trade Rumors: Miami Heat Could Pair Jimmy Butler With Draymond Green
The 2019-20 NBA season has just started, but the Golden State Warriors have already gone through plenty of ups and downs. Aside from struggling to win games, the Warriors have started losing several key players to injury one after another. With their current situation, most people wonder if the Warriors will finally consider taking a different route this season.
Though Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are currently off the table, one of the members of the Warriors’ championship core is currently being mentioned in trade rumors — All-Star forward Draymond Green. So far, the Warriors haven’t entertained the idea of trading Green. However, if they find themselves out of the playoff race in the deep Western Conference, Nekias Duncan of Bleacher Report believes that it will be best for the Warriors to consider moving Green before the February trade deadline.
Once he becomes officially available on the trade market, several NBA teams who are in dire need of additional power to contend for the NBA championship will surely express a strong interest in adding Green to their roster. According to Fadeaway World, one of the potential trade partners for the Warriors in the deal involving Green is the Miami Heat.
The Heat successfully put themselves in win-now mode with the addition of Jimmy Butler in the 2019 NBA free agency. However, as of now, the Heat must be aware that Butler alone won’t be enough to carry them to the top of the Eastern Conference this season. If they are serious about bringing home the Larry O’Brien Trophy to South Beach, the Heat should consider targeting another All-Star caliber talent before the 2020 February NBA trade deadline.
As Fadeaway World noted, a player like Green who plays tough defense and is all about hustle “perfectly fits” alongside Butler in Miami. However, trying to get Green from the Warriors won’t be cheap for the Heat. In the potential deal involving Green, the publication suggested that Golden State demands a trade package including Goran Dragic, Bam Adebayo, Derrick Jones Jr., and future draft picks.
“Dragic gives them a clean cap space slate for the upcoming season, while Bam is a nice player to man the middle thanks to his rebounding and defense. At the very least, Jones is a high-flyer who can be a nice role player as well. The Heat are hungry for offers, so the Warriors should take advantage of this by moving Green who is due to make max money over the next few seasons. By making this trade, the Warriors can have free cap space to pursue those three big names in the near future.”
If the Heat are really willing to give up those assets for Green, the Warriors shouldn’t think twice before making the deal. Aside from helping them free up a huge chunk of their salary cap space, the deal would enable the Warriors to add two young and promising talents in Adebayo and Jones Jr. and future draft picks that they could use to further improve their current roster. Adebayo may still be working on his three-point shooting, but he is definitely capable of filling the hole that Green would leave on the defensive end of the floor.
