After roughly 15 games of the NBA season, the Minnesota Timberwolves finally caved into Jimmy Butler’s trade request and shipped him to Philadelphia. While the trade has short-term repercussions, i.e. the Sixers thinking they can compete in the East and Minnesota falling out of playoff contention, I want to look at the bigger picture.
Butler just exercised, what Bill Simmons likes to call, pre-agency. He used his expiring contract to demand a trade from his team. From there he became a rental option for a competitor like Philadelphia. What’s interesting is that NBA rental players often fail utterly to execute two parts of their plan: destination and tenure.
Over the last two years alone, there have been four players with enough cachet to demand a trade and go into the rental process: Paul George, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler.
Paul George
The Indiana small forward let the Pacers know he was bound for the Lakers come free agency. LA bided their time, unwilling to sacrifice assets for a season of a player they would surely sign in the offseason. The Lakers weren’t competing at the time, so what was the rush?
OKC needed an infusion of talent and took a chance. What was supposed to be a pit stop on the way to Hollywood became a new journey, as George signed a four-year $137 million deal to stay in Oklahoma City. No one anticipated his bond with fellow star Russell Westbrook or his lack of drive to compete for a championship right now.
Kyrie Irving
Irving demanded a trade from Cleveland when he became dissatisfied playing second fiddle to LeBron. The divide widened during the 2017 offseason. Much like George, he had destinations in mind: the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Before the season even started, Irving was shipped out to Boston. Now, even though they’ve had a turbulent start, Irving fits in with Boston as their leader and has made it clear he intends to re-sign there this coming offseason.
Kawhi Leonard
In the 2017 playoffs, Leonard hurt his quadriceps and began one of the most peculiar sagas in NBA history. His injury lingered, or “lingered,” for the entire 2017-18 season, until he finally demanded a trade from San Antonio. His initial target was to go to Los Angeles, be it with either the Clippers or Lakers.
Instead, he was moved to Toronto, and while you have a better chance of interviewing Bigfoot than knowing Kawhi’s thoughts on any subject, the Raptors have dropped only one game he’s played in. They have the league’s best record and his stats have been just off his career highs from two years ago. I don’t know a better situation out there for him than Toronto.
Jimmy Butler
Now, Butler was just moved to Philadelphia and appears to be following a similar path as the three stars before him. His list of demands that included New York, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles, also fell on deaf ears. Now that he’s with a contender, Woj reports that both Butler and Philly are optimistic about an extension.
Keep in mind that I’m projecting decisions onto Leonard and Irving, but come this offseason, likely 3/4 or 4/4 of the last “rental” players will end up re-signing long-term deals with their teams.
However, maybe Leonard still harbors his lifelong dream of becoming a Clipper. Maybe the Celtics slow start is indicative of a larger problem, and Irving cuts bait and runs to New York. Maybe Butler watches Simmons pass on his 86th straight wide-open mid-range jumper and just snaps, giving up on Philly, and signs with the Nets.
To me, these are unlikely. I think the Raptors look like the presumptive first seed in the East. Boston will figure things out. Butler will adapt to the Sixers unique style of play before they leave for perceived greener pastures.
So, next time your team is contending and a star player demands a trade, hope your team takes the flyer and rents them. Based on the last four attempts, you could be in luck long term.