On Monday night, Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas tweeted the side-glancing eyeballs emoji, and Twitter exploded. When Thomas did that on July 2nd of last year, free agent Al Horford announced later that day that he chose to sign with Boston. Naturally, every on-edge basketball fan took this as a sign that the Celtics were on the verge of completing a major trade. Say, a Jimmy Butler trade, for example.
But no #WojBomb tweet ever came from breaking NBA news guru Adrian Wojnarowski or anybody else, and Bulls fans are still anxiously waiting to see what happens with Butler.
No Plans…Yet
Moments ago, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reported that according to his source, the Bulls are rebuffing inquiries about their star player. As of right now, Gar Forman and John Paxson have no plans to trade Jimmy.
Takes 1 blockbuster offer to change, but Bulls are rebuffing Butler inquiries/have told teams they have no plans to trade him, per source.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) February 21, 2017
There's posturing at this time of year. And if Celts engaged w/ Nets' pick, Bulls have to listen. But point is: Bulls aren't shopping Butler
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) February 21, 2017
There’s a subtle difference here that Bulls fans must realize. Chicago’s front office isn’t actively shopping Butler in the way they’re aggressively shopping Nikola Mirotic. The plan – as of now – is to keep Jimmy.
But as Johnson points out, one mega-offer could change that. (The Bulls front office could also be lying. Heck, the Kings front office insisted that DeMarcus Cousins wasn’t going anywhere, and they traded him for peanuts just days later.) Despite some questionable rumors linking Butler to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Celtics remain the only team in the league that can give the Bulls what they want in return for their franchise player: a haul of young talent and high draft picks.
It’s still unknown whether or not Celtics general manager and president Danny Ainge is willing to part with Brooklyn’s 2017 first round pick, which could very possibly become the #1 pick in the draft. However, ESPN’s NBA Insider Brian Windhorst suggested on Monday that Boston is ready to up their offer for Butler. Most analysts believe that ’17 pick must be included in Boston’s offered package for the Bulls to even engage in talks.
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 2:00 PM CST, which puts us around the 50 hour mark.
Sports Mockery will keep you up to speed on any developments surrounding the Jimmy Butler trade rumors.
