Miami Heat emerged as the front-runner to acquire Minnesota Timberwolves’ All-Star Jimmy Butler according to ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski. After several proposals have been rejected in the past couple of days, Heat made revised trade offer on Wednesday and are hoping they are getting close to Timberwolves’ asking price for Butler.
Heat and Timberwolves have been engaged in talks for two weeks, but are unable to find common ground just yet. Minnesota has high demands for Butler, who asked for a trade before the beginning of training camp, and would like to get a combination of useful players, young prospects and draft picks. In talks with Miami, they are reportedly asking for center Bam Adebayo, guard Josh Richardson and a protected 2019 first-round pick among other requests.
Besides Miami Heat, several other teams have contacted Minnesota Timberwolves to discuss a trade including the Houston Rockets.
However, no team is yet ready to pay Timberwolves’ price for Jimmy Butler, mostly because the 29-year-old will become a free agent after this year. Another issue is that Minnesota is looking to offload center Gorgui Dieng and his $48 million contract in any potential deal.
When he asked for a trade, Butler named several teams as his preferred destinations including LA Clippers, Brooklyn Nets, and New York Knicks. Still, it remains unclear how interested these teams would be in giving assets for a player that they could sign next year for free.
