Good luck finding anyone in the basketball world who doesn’t have an opinion on Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler’s next stop.
Former NBA All-Star big man DeMarcus Cousins is the latest to share his thoughts, and he wants to see one of his former teammates benefit from Butler’s presence.
Appearing on the Dec. 18 episode of FanDuel’s Run It Back, Cousins said he thinks the Phoenix Suns must pursue Butler ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline. Cousins played with Suns star Kevin Durant on the Golden State Warriors.
Would Cousins swap Bradley Beal for Butler if he ran the Suns?
“Hell yes,” Cousins said. “It should have been yesterday. And no disrespect to Beal; it’s just not a good fit with what you’ve got going on with [Devin Booker] and Kevin Durant. It never made sense.
“It got a little better with them adding a point guard in the mix,” Cousins added, “but it still just doesn’t make sense.”
Butler averages 19.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and five assists. Although Butler isn’t a No. 1 scoring option anymore, Cousins remains extremely optimistic about how the All-Star forward fits into a Big Three with Durant and Booker.
“You add a guy like Jimmy Butler that can play both sides of the ball — give you 15 to 20 points on a nightly basis, and guard the best player,” Cousins said. “That’s a better fit next to a Kevin Durant and a Devin Booker.”
The Suns are 8-2 when Durant, Booker, and Beal all play together. We’ll see their winning percentage if they acquire Butler.
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Jake Elman works as a contributing writer to Miami Heat on SI. He can be reached at jakeelman97@gmail.com or follow him on X @JakeElman97.
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