Jimmy Butler To The 76ers? Windhorst Teases A Crazy Reunion
The Sixers season is over, and the off-season has begun. Brian Windhorst joined Get Up this morning to tease what they might do this off-season. To many Sixers fans shock and joy, the name Jimmy Butler came up.
Jimmy Butler To The 76ers?
The Paul George stuff is unsurprising. His name was connected to the Sixers before this season even began. The thought all along was that Daryl Morey was setting up the cap space to land PG the following season. Jimmy Butler is a pleasant surprise among the other options though.
Sixers fans have wanted Jimmy Butler to return ever since he first left. We saw him lead an inferior Heat roster to the NBA Finals twice. The guy has that special trait that lifts teams up when the playoffs roll around. Something this Sixers team could clearly benefit from.
Just A Rumor For Now
Obviously it is nothing concrete. Windy said they are monitoring the situation. That doesn’t mean Jimmy Butler is available, or that the Sixers would be at the top of the list if he became available.
But before Windy said this, it wasn’t even a thought. No one had Jimmy Butler on the list of potential Sixers targets.
As Windhorst pointed out, Butler is looking for an extension. He seems to think the Heat won’t be willing to give him that extension. That could easily deteriorate into a trade request. In that case, the Sixers now have trade assets after the Harden trade.
Would Jimmy Butler Want To Return?
Butler’s problem here was Brett Brown. He is long gone. So is Ben Simmons. The only person left from that team is Joel Embiid, and we know those two are good friends.
To the point rumors that Embiid wants to go to the Heat have followed us for the past several years. Why wouldn’t he want to play with Embiid again?
Jimmy Butler Could be What They Need
Sixers have been looking for that “toughness” since Butler first left. The problem was they could only find it in the form of guys who don’t have much actual talent left.
PJ Tucker, Kyle Lowry, Pat Bev. These are guys who gave you nothing on offense. Lowry just scored 0 points in a playoff game. He is old and doesn’t have the legs for extended playoff minutes anymore. We saw PJ Tucker provide nothing on offense last year. Pat Bev is in that same boat.
Butler can be your 3rd scorer still though. he averaged over 20pts per game this past season. He can provide what Tobias Harris was supposed to, and be the on court leader that they keep looking for in all the wrong places.
A reunion would make sense. It is just a matter of if it is actually a possibility.
Windy has gotten these things right in the past. It was Windy who first told us that the Sixers wouldn’t trade Tyrese Maxey even if Prime Michael Jordan was available. Windy also saw the writing on the wall for the Jazz being broken up before it happened. He tends to be accurate when he starts dropping rumors like this
Paul George is still the likely answer. But now we at least have another name to watch out for.
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