Any deal involving Jimmy Butler before now and the NBA trade deadline will likely be complicated and involve multiple steps.
Those first steps could raise antennas, knowing the Miami Heat parting with Butler could be the next move. One example is if the Milwaukee Bucks make a deal to shed salary before the trade deadline.
If the Bucks trade Pat Connaughton, put your Windhorst Fingers up.
Since Butler issued his trade request earlier this month, the Heat have been working the trade market to find a deal. The Phoenix Suns remain the team most motivated to acquire Butler, but the difficulty of moving Bradley Beal and his no-trade clause is acting as a major complication.
Butler and the Heat might have to look elsewhere.
The Milwaukee Bucks have been mentioned as a potential suitor for Butler, but as a team operating above the second apron, they cannot aggregate salaries or take on more money in a deal. That means to facilitate a deal for Butler, the Bucks would first have to shed salary and get under the second apron. To do so, Milwaukee could trade Pat Connaughton into another team’s cap space.
Here’s more from NBA insider Marc Stein:
The reality in Milwaukee, in any case, is that the Bucks can't make a trade run at either player unless they first dodge second apron restrictions by finding a taker for Pat Connaughton's $9.4 million contract in a deal that does not require them to take back salary.
The Bucks are $6.5 million over the second apron. If they trade Connaughton to another team while taking little-to-no money back, that should signal alarms that a bigger deal could be coming.
That deal could involve Butler, or perhaps Bradley Beal. Read more about Milwaukee’s reported interest in Beal here.