Danny Ainge tried to trade for Jimmy Butler in 2016 and 2017 when he was running the Boston Celtics and Butler was on the Chicago Bulls. Ainge told former NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on the latest episode of the “Knuckleheads” podcast that the Bulls wanted the Celtics’ draft picks that turned into Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum for Butler.
The Celtics drafted Brown with the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft and selected Tatum with the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. The Bulls wound up trading Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2017 draft for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen.
Butler played in 69 games with the Timberwolves before getting traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. The six-time NBA All-Star appeared in only 55 games with the Sixers before joining the Miami Heat in the summer of 2019. Butler has guided the Heat to two NBA Finals appearances in his four years with the franchise.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Jimmy Butler, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics & Chicago Bulls Updates
The Celtics, meanwhile, have had a lot of success with Tatum and Brown. They have reached four conference finals and one NBA Finals. While Ainge is no longer with the Celtics, he should be incredibly proud of what he built in Boston.
Butler is averaging 21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists in 231 games with the Heat. He will make the Hall of Fame one day, which is remarkable considering the fact that he was homeless at one point as a teenager.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Jimmy Butler, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics & Chicago Bulls Updates
Brown has career NBA averages of 17.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists with the Celtics, while Tatum has career NBA averages of 22.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists with Boston.
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