Chicago Bulls Rumors: Selling High On Jimmy Butler Would Be Good Idea

With a 37-37 record and sitting two games back of the final playoff spot, little is going right for the Chicago Bulls right now. Injuries have been a big factor in a recent downturn, but there are also signs of internal strife with Taj Gibson‘s assertion about being embarrassed by losing to “trash teams.”

Some offseason moves may be coming for the Bulls, and The Vertical’s Chris Mannix has passed along “rumblings” that the team will consider trading star guard Jimmy Butler. Mannix specifically mentions the Orlando Magic as a team to watch regarding Butler, and the Boston Celtics were among the teams that reportedly reached out to Chicago about a potential deal for him around February’s trade deadline.

Butler recently missed a month with a left knee injury, then sat out three more games after returning, and he is averaging just 14.3 points per game over 10 games since March 14. Butler is still averaging a career-high 21 points per game this season, though, and there’s no arguing he is the Bulls’ best player when fully healthy.

Butler was openly critical of Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg‘s laid-back demeanor back in December, while also saying he wanted to be coached harder. Butler later backed off a bit, with an insistence he didn’t mean to call out Hoiberg, but the writing was already on the wall conveying his unhappiness with his new coach.

Butler is in the first season of the five-year, $92.34 million contract he signed in July of 2015, which is a potential barrier to a trade along with any concerns about his long-term health if his knee issue continues to linger. But he is in his prime at 26 years old, and with the NBA salary cap set to climb this summer Butler would be a solid addition for any team willing to make a deal for a top-tier shooting guard. From the Bulls’ side, the possibility to sell high and add a few younger players should be enough to drive their desire to trade Butler.

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