A new development on the Jimmy Butler front: The New Orleans Pelicans approached the Miami Heat this week about a potential trade involving Butler and forward Brandon Ingram, The Stein Line’s Marc Stein and Jake Fischer reported Friday.
Ingram, 27, is on a $36 million expiring contract. He became eligible for a contract extension worth up to $208 million over four years last summer, but the Pelicans have not been willing to max him out, nor have they been able to find him a suitable trade. Initially, according to The Stein Line, other teams proposed frameworks for Butler deals that also involved Ingram. Then New Orleans decided to reach out to Miami directly about a Butler-Ingram swap.
For the Heat, who would like to move on from the Butler era, make the playoffs this season and not take on money past 2025-26, a trade built around Butler and Ingram would make a lot of sense. Ingram has been out since Dec. 7 with a high-grade ankle sprain, but, assuming he can get back on the court for the stretch run, he’d give them another talented creator. If he fits well, they’d have the option of re-signing him with Bird rights in the offseason. They could also sign-and-trade him at that point.
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For the Pelicans, the motivation here is less clear. They need to shed $1.4 million to get under the luxury tax, and, given that they never pay the tax and have a 12-36 record, they’re not going to add to their payroll between now and the Feb. 6 deadline. Butler is making $48.8 million this season, so, presumably, New Orleans would be giving up more than just Ingram. Could CJ McCollum ($33.3 million this season, $30.7 million next) be moved to Miami (or elsewhere)? Does the front office envision Butler helping a healthier version of the team make a playoff run next season, or is this just a creative way to create financial flexibility?
The new CBA means that almost any trade involving Butler and Ingram would have to be complex and involve at least one other team. The Heat are close to the second apron, and, if they aggregate multiple contracts, they can’t finish the trade above it. As they are over the first apron, they cannot take back more salary than they receive.
According to The Stein Line, the Pelicans have also had recent discussions about Ingram with the Toronto Raptors and that “preliminary conversations” with the Atlanta Hawks have “not gained significant traction.”
Does Fox want out or did Sacramento decide to shop him? Yes
Let’s talk about semantics! When ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news that De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings was on the block, he did not report that Fox had demanded (or politely requested) a trade. He did, however, report that Fox had a “target destination in mind ahead of 2026 free agency.”
So does Fox want out? Well, The Stein Line reported Thursday that the Kings recently approached Fox about trading him before the deadline, not the other way around. They reportedly told some teams that they were open to discussing Fox last week.
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But they didn’t do those things in a vacuum. In the same story, The Stein Line reported that, regardless of how this season played out, Fox had “no intention of extending in Sacramento.” Is communicating this to the Kings the same as publicly demanding to be traded immediately? No, and definitely not in this case — according to The Stein Line, Fox would actually prefer to leave Sacramento this coming offseason — but it’s not all that different from a private trade request. If the team knows you don’t want to stay, you don’t have to ask for a trade.
To be clear, I’m not saying Fox has wronged the Kings or vice versa. He has the right to leave in free agency, and, if that’s the plan, then being upfront about it helps Sacramento, as it has an opportunity to get something back in return. The Kings, meanwhile, have the right to take the best offer they can get, and to do the deal when it makes the most sense for them, not him.
As a reminder: Donovan Mitchell never officially asked the Utah Jazz for a trade.
Has Bogdanovic played his last game for Atlanta?
On Monday, Bogdan Bogdanovic was on the Hawks’ active roster for their game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He didn’t log a single minute, though, and officially got a DNP-CD. He was then listed as out due to personal reasons for their games against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday. Bogdanovic is expected to miss Saturday’s game against the Indiana Pacers, too.
On Thursday, four separate outlets — HoopsHype, The Arizona Republic, SNY and The Stein Line — either directly reported or implied that Bogdanovic is likely to be traded before the deadline. The Phoenix Suns have reportedly talked to Atlanta about swapping Jusuf Nurkic for Bogdanovic (and presumably incentivizing the Hawks with draft capital). Miami has also “expressed interest” in him, per HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.
Bogdanovic is 32 years old and is making $17.3 million this season. That would be a big-time bargain if he were playing at the level he did last season, but he has shot 37.1% from the field and 30.1% from deep in 24 games this season after missing the first few weeks with a hamstring injury. He’s also owed $16 million next season, and he has a team option worth $16 million in 2026-27.
If Bogdanovic’s down year is strictly health-related, not evidence of decline, then, whether it’s the Suns or another win-now team, this could be a great opportunity to buy low. If Bogdanovic can get healthy relatively quickly, that is.
What’s the Pacers’ plan?
Tyrese Haliburton’s five-year extension kicked in this season, and Indiana’s newly named All-Star reserve, Pascal Siakam, is in Year 1 of a four-year deal. Both contracts started at $42.2 million, or 30% of the salary cap. As thrilled as the Pacers must be to have both stars on the roster — after a slow start, they’ve won 16 of their last 21 games — they knew when they traded for Siakam that, with that kind of money on the books, they’d have to make hard decisions about the rest of the roster.
One decision: How much can they afford to offer Myles Turner in free agency? The big man, who turns 29 in March, is on a $19.9 million expiring contract. That is an artificially low number; two years ago, Indiana used cap space to renegotiate and extend his contract, so he got a $17.1 million raise as soon as he signed it and the team has paid Turner a below-market-value salary in the two seasons since. The Pacers do not have that option now, and, if they simply add a new contract for Turner to the 10 salaries they already have on next year’s books, they will be in the luxury tax. (Turner will be looking for a starting salary of more than $30 million, per The Athletic’s Jovan Buha.)
Another decision: How much can they afford to offer Bennedict Mathurin when he’s up for an extension this summer? The 22-year-old is a gifted scorer with considerable upside, but you can’t pay everybody. Indiana has already signed wing Aaron Nesmith through the 2026-27 season, and it has signed guard Aaron Nembhard through the 2027-28 season. Ben Sheppard will be up for an extension the year after Mathurin, too.
The Pacers don’t exactly have to make those right decisions right now, but they need to at least have an idea of where they stand, as it will inform how they approach this trade deadline. The rest of the league knows the position Indiana is in, so other teams have been reportedly monitoring both Turner and Mathurin.
On Friday, The Athletic’s Fred Katz reported that the Pacers are “not trying to get worse,” so they are unlikely to trade Turner. They have also reportedly rejected other teams’ overtures about Nembhard, who has been instrumental to their turnaround. And while the franchise has not paid the luxury tax in two decades, that streak could potentially end next season, depending on how the rest of this one goes.
According to The Athletic, Indiana’s conversations about Obi Toppin (who re-signed with the team last summer on a four-year, $58 million deal) haven’t really gone anywhere. Mathurin is not mentioned in the story.
Smart move?
Could Marcus Smart’s tenure with the Memphis Grizzlies end before he even plays his 40th game for the team? According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, there has been “plenty of discussion” about this possibility recently.
The 30-year-old guard joined the Grizzlies in the same June 2023 deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Boston Celtics. To acquire Smart, Memphis gave up Tyus Jones, the 2023 first-round pick that became Marcus Sasser and the 2024 first-round pick that became Bub Carrington. Smart has dealt with a series of injuries since then, though, and appeared in only 20 games in 2023-24.
This season, Smart has appeared in 18 games, and he has been sidelined since he suffered a finger injury (a “partial tear of the proximal extensor hood of his right index finger,” per the team) on Dec. 21. While practicing with the the Grizzlies’ G League team, the Memphis Hustle, on Jan. 9, Smart fractured his left thumb, which required surgery. On Wednesday, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters that Smart was still “week-to-week” and limited to individual work, per Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
These hand injuries are strange, and, if Memphis doesn’t end up trading Smart, the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year could still play a significant role as it battles for playoff positioning. As ESPN pointed out, though, the Grizzlies have to think about the money they’re likely to spend this offseason when Santi Aldama will be a restricted free agent and Jaren Jackson Jr. could be eligible for a supermax extension (if he makes an All-NBA team). Given how backup point guard Scotty Pippen Jr. has emerged this season and how well rookie Jaylen Wells has fared with the starting five, it is understandable that Memphis — perhaps the league’s deepest team — might want to shed Smart’s $21.6 million 2025-26 salary.
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