A contender ‘badly’ wants Jimmy Butler as trade speculation continues to heat, while a Chicago Bulls star was reportedly courted by a Western Conference juggernaut.

Average of 9 LIVE Regular Season games per week plus the best of the NBA Playoffs, including every game of the NBA Conference Finals & NBA Finals LIVE on ESPN, available via Kayo New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

Stay abreast of the latest trade developments ahead of February’s deadline with NBA Rumour Mill!

SUNS WANT BUTLER ‘BAD’ … BUT DIFFICULTY REMAINS

The Phoenix Suns remain determined to land wantaway Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler in a trade before the February 7 (AEDT) deadline, but a deal won’t come easy by any means.

And while Butler has spoken openly about his displeasure this season with the Heat — who suspended the forward seven games for ‘conduct detrimental to the team’ — a trade to send the six-time All-Star to the Arizona desert remains a difficult proposition.

“Phoenix wants Butler and Butler wants Phoenix — ‘I’ve heard they want him bad,’ one league source says of the Suns — but the obstacles preventing such a swap continue to be considerable,” NBA insider Marc Stein reported.

“Before Bradley Beal’s obsessively discussed no-trade clause can even come into play, Miami and Phoenix need a third team willing to absorb Beal’s monster contract to emerge.”

The 31-year-old Beal has a $50.2 million cap hit this season and is set to earn a guaranteed $53.6 million and $57.1 million in 2025-26 and 2026-27, respectively.

Beal was recently relegated to the bench by head coach Mike Budenholzer, as was out-of-favour centre Jusuf Nurkic, who has also found his name in trade rumours. Nurkic has missed the Suns’ past three games.

LAKERS PURSUED BULLS ALL-STAR

The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly held early-season discussions with the Chicago Bulls for All-Star guard Zach LaVine, who continues to have him name inserted in trade speculation ahead of the deadline.

According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Lakers showed interest in LaVine early in the 2024-25 campaign, but the pieces apparently didn’t fit — and they definitely won’t now after LA recently traded with Brooklyn for forward-centre Dorian Finney-Smith.

“A source also said that there was early-season talk about LaVine and the Lakers, but the puzzle didn’t have the right pieces at the time,” Cowley reported.

“With Los Angeles moving the D’Angelo Russell contract a few weeks ago for Dorian Finney-Smith, the puzzle was all but thrown in the garbage.”

LaVine has been on an absolute tear to begin 2025, stringing together six consecutive games scoring 30-plus points — averaging 33.3 per game — and well and truly putting his name in calculations for a third All-Star nod.