Miami Heat wing Jimmy Butler reportedly has interest in joining a contender via trade before the February 6 trade deadline. If he's still with the Heat post-deadline, Butler could opt out of his contract and leave in free agency. If that happens, expect the Brooklyn Nets to be among the possible destinations for the veteran wing.
Brooklyn and Butler aren't a match in the trade market right now. The Nets aren't anywhere close to contending. Also, Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks won't surrender the assets necessary to trade for Butler. Marks is intent on keeping the draft picks he's acquired, and re-acquired, over a series of moves while kicking off this rebuild.
In free agency, depending on other moves before the deadline, the Nets could hit the offseason with between $40 and $80 million in cap space. The higher end of that range would be enough to add Butler and other players to try to vault Brooklyn back into contention.
