ESPN's Kendrick Perkins: 'Heat Need to Trade' Jimmy Butler: Should Mavs Inquire?
ESPN is no stranger to making bold, baseless claims, as we've seen twice from Stephen A. Smith over the last week. Smith not only discredited Luka Doncic's 73-point performance in the Dallas Mavericks' win over the Atlanta Hawks last week, but he also went on the air this week and suggested that Doncic should be held accountable for the Mavs not being able to keep Jalen Brunson from going to the New York Knicks in free agency.
Smith's colleague, former NBA player Kendrick Perkins, joined the party on Tuesday by randomly claiming that the Miami Heat should move on from five-time All-NBA and five-time All-Defensive forward Jimmy Butler in order to give him a better shot at winning a title.
"I believe the Miami Heat need to do right by Jimmy and trade him to a team that actually could compete for a title this season," Perkins said on ESPN.
What Perkins seems to forget is that Butler has willed his team to two NBA Finals appearances in the previous four seasons, and last season he did it with the Heat being the No. 8 seed. Given that success, plus the fact that Butler loves Miami, it's hard to see that couple splitting up.
For the sake of having fun, though, let's say the Heat decide to trade Butler and would be open to sending him to the Dallas Mavericks. What would a trade package look like in that scenario?
The easiest path, for salary-matching purposes, would be to include star point guard Kyrie Irving, who is averaging 25.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists on near-50/40/90 efficiency, but has also missed 20 of the Mavs' 47 games so far this season due to injury. Like Miami with Butler, though, the Mavs likely wouldn't want to part ways with Irving this early, as they've yet to see what he can do alongside Doncic in a postseason setting.
But to see that, you have to actually get to the postseason relatively healthy, and the Mavs, who are coming off a disappointing season where they missed the playoffs last year, have yet to prove they can stay healthy.
Although this particular thought exercise is merely that and nothing else, the Mavs have been linked to several other forwards and centers ahead of the trade deadline that actually warrant more attention. The deadline is one week away, and there are several names to keep an eye on for Dallas, including P.J. Washington, Kyle Kuzma, Miles Bridges and more.
