So Touching: The Phoenix Suns’ head coach has expressed his dread of losing one of his key players after discovering……..

So Touching: The Phoenix Suns’ head coach has expressed his dread of losing one of his key players after discovering……..

A contender ‘badly’ wants Jimmy Butler as trade rumors heats up, while a Chicago Bulls player is supposedly being courted by a Western Conference juggernaut.
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Stay up to date on the latest trade moves ahead of the February deadline with NBA Rumor Mill!

The Phoenix Suns are determined to trade for Miami Heat standout Jimmy Butler before the February 7 (AEDT) deadline, but a deal will not be simple.

And, while Butler has been open about his discontent with the Heat this season, who punished him seven games for ‘behavior detrimental to the club,’ a trade to move the six-time All-Star to the Arizona desert remains a challenging prospect.

“Phoenix wants Butler, and Butler wants Phoenix — ‘I’ve heard they want him bad,’ one league source says of the Suns — but the impediments to such a trade remain significant,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote.

“Before Bradley Beal’s much-discussed no-trade clause comes into play, Miami and Phoenix require a third team ready to absorb Beal’s monster salary to emerge.”

The 31-year-old Beal has a $50.2 million cap hit this season and is set to earn a guaranteed $53.6 million and $57.1 million in 2025-26 and 2026-27, respectively.

Beal was recently relegated to the bench by head coach Mike Budenholzer, as was out-of-favour centre Jusuf Nurkic, who has also found his name in trade rumours. Nurkic has missed the Suns’ past three games.

LAKERS PURSUED BULLS ALL-STAR.

The Los Angeles Lakers allegedly had early-season talks with the Chicago Bulls about All-Star guard Zach LaVine, whose name continues to be mentioned in trade rumors ahead of the deadline.

According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Lakers expressed interest in LaVine early in the 2024-25 season, but the pieces did not match — and they certainly won’t now that LA has dealt with Brooklyn for forward-center Dorian Finney-Smith.

“A source also said that there was early-season talk about LaVine and the Lakers, but the puzzle didn’t have the right pieces at the time,” Cowley reported.

“With Los Angeles moving the D’Angelo Russell contract a few weeks ago for Dorian Finney-Smith, the puzzle was all but thrown in the garbage.”

LaVine has been on an absolute tear to begin 2025, stringing together six consecutive games scoring 30-plus points — averaging 33.3 per game — and well and truly putting his name in calculations for a third All-Star nod.