The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off one of the stranger transactions at the February mid-season trade deadline, and now the Golden State Warriors have been urged to follow a similar path with star forward Jimmy Butler.
Mike Conley was traded by the Timberwolves to the Chicago Bulls on February 3, only to return and sign a new deal with the franchise two weeks later after he was also traded to the Charlotte Hornets in the process.
Warriors urged to copy Wolves' Mike Conley move with Jimmy Butler
CBA rules stipulate that a player can't get traded, bought out and then rejoin his previous team, but that didn't apply to Conley because he got moved again after the initial Timberwolves trade.
In proposing the Warriors flip Butler and a 2027 first-round pick for Anthony Davis this offseason, notable NBA analyst Bill Simmons suggested on his podcast that Golden State could get their veteran star back in a similar fashion to what Minnesota did with Conley.
"They can get Jimmy Butler back thanks to this stupid Mike Conley rule that we nobody ever knew about, where Mike Conley got traded by Minnesota to I think Washington or Chicago somewhere, then got traded again and waived, and all of a sudden, Minnesota was able to pick him up. So maybe they could end up picking him back up in February," Simmons said.
As incredible as this would be for the Warriors, there's a number of obstacles that would make such an outcome very unlikely. Not only would the Washington Wizards have to be open to a Butler-Davis swap, but then a third team would also have to be willing to trade for Butler and his $56.8 million salary, and then execute a buyout.
That just seems like too many hurdles to get through for Butler to even enter free agency, let alone the 36-year-old being open to reuniting with Golden State. There'd be a multitude of teams with Butler interest in such a scenario, and you wouldn't think he'd be overly thrilled if the Warriors were to trade him in the first place.
Jimmy Butler trade rumors will continue into the offseason
The most likely outcome is Butler remains with Golden State and isn't moved at all, but that won't stop speculation of a trade entering the summer given he's expected to miss at least half of next season recovering from his torn ACL injury.
The fact is that's a lot of money sitting on the sidelines for one of Stephen Curry's final years. Considering the Warriors possess essentially all their future draft capital, a move that sees them relinquish some of that (and Butler) for an alternative star is a realistic possibility.
As for the chance of the Warriors re-acquiring Butler as a free agent later down the track, that's a fanciful idea for Simmons to propose that, in reality, is almost no chance of happening.
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