NBA Draft night saw incessant Jimmy Butler trade rumors, including some narratives that would potentially reunite the superstar swingman with his former coach Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota. Obviously, it didn’t happen as Butler stayed put, but the Chicago Bulls also took a natural shooting guard, how can also play small forward and point guard with their lottery pick at #14.
Yes, the selection of Denzel Valentine (here’s more on him), plus the Bulls selecting a small forward in the second round in Paul Zipster from Germany, again called into question the team’s future on the wings, as well as wonderment about the future of Jimmy Butler with the team.
Being that it was the very next day after the shocking Derrick Rose trade, many so-called “NBA insiders” suggested trade winds were blowing again in the Chicago back court.
Chicago Bulls GM Gar Forman took media questions after the NBA Draft concluded, and he went into detail shooting down reports that the team was in supposed “heated talks” to move Jimmy Butler.
“We were in no talks with anyone,” Forman said. “There was no discussion in the entire draft this evening as far as Jimmy Butler was concerned.”
“We have never made a call in regards to Jimmy Butler. We value Jimmy Butler, we’re very happy to have Jimmy Butler, we’ve got a terrific basketball player, an All-NBA defender, he’s still young and under a long-term contract. Those are all great things.”
“We’ve said this all along, we like Jimmy Butler, we did not shop Jimmy Butler, but did we receive calls?”
“Of course we did, and it’s our job to listen to calls. We get a lot of calls on a lot of our players, and that’s stuff that happens all throughout the league.”
The fact that he said his full name, Jimmy Butler, several times, is maybe a decent indicator to how serious the team is in keeping Jimmy Buckets the face of the franchise. Forman later added, “we were never presented with anything (from any potential trade partner) that would have made us even consider moving Jimmy Butler.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram