The Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline is 15 days away, so we’re right in the thick of when all the rumors around the league will start to pick up. Jimmy Butler is the most talked about trade piece right now, with the Phoenix Suns being eyed as the frontrunner to land him if a trade were to transpire. But there’s other names around the league that have been circulated, which will only continue as the window closes on teams being able to make moves in hopes of improving their title odds right now, or positioning themselves for the future.

Here’s the latest around the league on Butler’s trade status, as well as everything else circulating before the trade deadline on Feb. 6.

Suns don’t have ‘specific’ move lined up after swapping picks

The Phoenix Suns made a trade Tuesday night that has everyone around the league wondering if a bigger move could be on the horizon. The Suns sent their only tradable first-round pick (in 2031) to the Utah Jazz in exchange for three future first-round picks. The picks heading to Phoenix are the least favorable of several picks owned by Utah in 2025, 2027 and 2029.

It was one of those moves that makes you wonder what other move is around the corner, because a fringe championship contender doesn’t swap around picks without it leading to the potential of landing a player, or players. Especially since the Suns have been long rumored to covet Jimmy Butler, who has grown disgruntled with the Miami Heat. Tuesday’s move could be seen as Phoenix taking a big step in trying to acquire Butler, but it’s not a foregone conclusion.

The Suns made the trade Tuesday night “without a specific follow-up move lined up,” according to NBA insider Marc Stein. Take that however you want, but we’ve seen our fair share of smoke and mirrors by teams, agents and players in the past only for the exact opposite to happen. 

While it may be difficult to believe that Phoenix just wanted to flip one draft pick for three, Stein did note that the Suns still have not yet presented any trade ideas to Bradley Beal, who would need to be the one shipped elsewhere if Phoenix wanted to land Butler. Beal’s no-trade clause gives him all the power, and both he and the Suns have lamented that there have been no discussions about moving him. However, if the right situation presented itself, Beal would reportedly waive his no-trade clause.

But even if Beal agreed to be traded elsewhere, and the Suns had enough to get Butler, the other piece to this puzzle is it would almost certainly need to include a third, possibly fourth and maybe even fifth team to get this done. Because the Suns are a second- apron team, they’re limited in how they’re able to conduct trades. Phoenix can’t aggregate players in any trades and it can’t take on more money than its sending out, which makes this whole situation complicated.

However, if what Stein is reporting is true, and the Suns aren’t just focusing on trying to land Butler, they could use those three first round picks to improve the roster in other ways. It would still likely include sending Beal (and possibly Jusuf Nurkic) elsewhere, but maybe it’s not for another aging star with injury issues, but rather a couple quality role players that amount to the same price.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Once mid-January rolls around, LeBron James becomes a bit more expressive to the media about the current status of his team, which serve as not-so-subtle messages to the Lakers front office to improve the roster around him. This time, though, LeBron isn’t the only one sending messages in L.A.

According to ESPN, both James and Davis are “growing concerned” about L.A.’s ability to significantly improve its roster by using its two tradable first-round picks. The Lakers have been holding onto those picks for dear life over the years, and famously elected to not use either at least season’s deadline despite the lackluster collection of talent surrounding their two star players. In all fairness, the Lakers are in a tough spot. If they trade two first-round picks (in 2029 and 2031) to get James and Davis some supplemental help, only for James to retire after next season, they will have mortgaged their future for the sake of two years. If they don’t use those picks, then they’ll be wasting the twilight years of LeBron as well as the last few years of Davis’ prime.

Both Davis and James have reportedly expressed to the front office that they want the team to make moves in order to contend for a title, but up to this point, the Lakers have not done so. We’ll have to see if this is the year they finally go all-in an spend those picks.

Lakers’ LeBron James has seemingly begun his annual campaign to convince the team to make a trade

Sam Quinn

The Bulls may finally get that full reset after all. Both LaVine and Vucevic have been available for some time, yet there have been no buyers for either. The Bulls tried to move LaVine last season — with the Lakers previously interested — but an injury to the sharpshooting guard ended that plot point. Now, though in the midst of strong seasons from both players, Chicago is getting calls from teams around the league for potential trades, per ESPN.

That doesn’t mean the Bulls will be successful in trading both or even one of these guys, teams could just be doing their due diligence and kicking the tires. But it’s a positive note that there’s a chance of Chicago getting off at least one of those contracts and finally entering a new era. The Bulls have been in a desperate need of a hard reset, and trading LaVine and Vucevic is the first step in accomplishing that. They’ve already won too many games to take themselves out of the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, but if they manage to get rid of just one of their two highest-paid players, it will help them not lose their top-10 protected pick in next June’s draft.