The Suns have taken their most aggressive step yet toward acquiring Jimmy Butler
The Phoenix Suns are trading their unprotected 2031 first-round pick to the Utah Jazz for three first-round picks, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The three picks the Suns are getting out of this arrangement will all be the least favorable of multiple picks owned by the Jazz in specific years. In 2025, the Suns will get the least favorable out of the picks that originally belonged to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves. In 2027 and 2029, they will get the least favorable available pick between Cleveland, Minnesota and Utah.
According to Heat beat writer Ira Winderman, this deal is one of the steps toward a possible Jimmy Butler trade with the Suns. That deal would include at least four teams and result in both players and picks going to the Heat. In addition, the Suns would likely need to use one of these picks to pay somebody off to take on Bradley Beal’s long-term contract. Beal has a no-trade clause, though, so he would have to approve any deal.
The Jazz, meanwhile, had a surplus of draft capital to work with in making this deal. Because they owned 13 first-round picks in the next seven drafts, they were willing to part with three that will almost certainly come relatively late in the round for the chance to control Phoenix’s 2031 pick unprotected. Now the Jazz have 11 first-round picks in the next seven drafts, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The Butler saga is ongoing, and with a trade of this magnitude, there are so many moving parts that it could still be days or weeks before anything is finalized, if it even is. But this appears to be the biggest step yet towards a blockbuster with Phoenix.
