If Jimmy Butler has his way, he won’t be moving to Cleveland to join LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Instead, he’s reportedly told the Cavs he’d rather stay with the Chicago Bulls than be traded to the Eastern Conference champs.
Per source, Jimmy Butler has informed Cavs that he wants to stay in Chicago rather than be traded to Cleveland.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) June 21, 2017
Last season, Butler averaged 23.9 points, 5.5 assists and 6.2 rebounds per game this past season, playing 76 games for Chicago.
If it’s true he isn’t interested in a trade to play with the Cavs, this is a huge blow to fans hoping to pair Butler with James and Kyrie Irving. It also goes against another report which surfaced Tuesday morning and indicated Butler actually was pushing hard for a trade to Cleveland.
But perhaps reports that Dwyane Wade has already told the Bulls he’s opting into his $24 million player option for the upcoming season helped Butler decide against a trade, if he ever did want it in the first place.
We may never know if he did. This is the time of year where nothing that’s reported can be taken at face value unless that report is from Adrian Wojnarowski. And even then sometimes they aren’t ironclad.
It’s officially silly season in the NBA, just days before the draft. Stay tuned. You never know what’s coming next — just ask D’Angelo Russell.