Rules are made to be broken. Conventional wisdom is meant to be challenged. This is true in the NBA, too.

For a long time, people thought the earth was flat. Of course, some people still do. Some of those people are even in the National Basketball Association. 

That’s another place where conventional wisdom is meant to be questioned. We may have notions about what a trade ought to look like. We should not accept those notions as being dogmatic truths. 

For example, suppose the Miami Heat traded Jimmy Butler next season.

We should assume that they’d seek a draft-heavy package, and aim to be among the worst teams in the NBA, right? 

Not necessarily. Here’s an unconventional deal that sends him to the New Orleans Pelicans.