NBA trade deadline live updates: Latest Jimmy Butler rumors as Heat, Suns, others look to make moves

Age: 31

Position: Guard

Contract value: 50.2 m

Process: 2027 (player option)

Beal is still a valuable basketball player, but he happens to be paid an extraordinary amount of money for a player who is no longer an All-Star. He is making $50.2 million this season and has two years, $111 million vested beyond this season. I asked five executives, “What would Beal get in free agency if he were available in free agency this summer?” The answers ranged from $25 to $35 million per year. Count this as another win for Mark Bartelstein and Priority Sports, an agency with a long track record of paying clients well.

Three other factors make trading incredibly complicated. First, he has a no-trade clause, meaning he can reject any deal presented to him if it doesn’t suit him. Second, the Suns are over the second apron by a significant margin, meaning the Suns cannot aggregate players in a deal along with Beal to make his contract more palatable. Finally, the team has limited trading capital.

But the Suns are looking to shake up their roster in a big way, and Beal is the only mechanism outside of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker that will allow them to make a move for Jimmy Butler. To get Butler, the Suns would have to find a third team willing to take Beal, as the Heat are believed to have no interest in revoking Beal’s contract for Butler. The Suns moved Beal to the bench and he hasn’t played poorly in a vacuum this season, averaging 17.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assist detail and effort on defense. However, he is a bit small for this roster and it is difficult to create lineups that are successful with him, Durant, Booker and another guard. It would likely be the Suns’ case to move on from Beal, but it will be difficult to find a landing spot for him, even in a deal for Butler.