NBA Trade Rumors: Heat to move Butler ASAP? Lackluster Lakers trade strategy

The latest NBA trade rumors

Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler | Megan Briggs/GettyImages

Hello Hoops Heads! Here's the latest in NBA trade rumors.

NBA Trade Rumors: The Los Angeles Lakers may play it safe.

The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to be buyers ahead of the trade deadline and have already made a big trade to acquire Dorian Finney-Smith from the Brooklyn Nets. However, according to the Athletic's Jovan Budha, don't expect another big trade. Instead, the Lakers could either make a smaller deal or none at all.

Making a smaller deal could help them solve a positional weakness, such as at center, by acquiring Washington Wizards center Jonas Valanciunas or Portland Trail Blazers big man Robert Williams. On the other hand, the Lakers appear hesitant to include either of their two tradeable first-round picks in a deal, and that could prevent them from making a blockbuster move.

If they are indeed done making moves, then that could be a mistake with them clearly not among the best teams in the Western Conference, and there is also the chance that they could fall out of the playoffs altogether if they were to end up in the play-in tournament.

Some of their caution may be related to the offseason, where they could have more tradable picks to use to acquire a big-name player. Be that as it may, this could be LeBron James's final season in the NBA, and the Lakers may not be good enough to go on a deep playoff run as currently constructed.

NBA Trade Rumors: The Miami Heat may trade Jimmy Butler this week.

It's clear that the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler are headed for a divorce, and we now may have an end date in mind. According to NBA insider Shams Charania, the Heat and Butler could work together to get a deal done by the end of this week. That can mean that Butler is playing on a new team sometime next week, with plenty of time left over ahead of a deadline.

That seems to be an ambitious undertaking considering that his market appears to have cooled down. He gave the Heat a list of teams to work with, and really only the Phoenix Suns are seemingly desperate to land him. It may require a three- or four-team deal to make a Butler-to-the-Suns trade happen.

Given his growing distraction, the Heat might need to lower their asking price to let go of one of their best players. If that is the case, then they could be willing to take whatever the Suns can offer to get a deal with Butler across the finish line and start a new era. With the Suns making a big trade to add more draft picks, that may help a potential Butler trade out.

That remains to be seen, but if the rumors are true, then we should have an idea of where Butler will be playing next by January 26th.