The perfect Nuggets-Heat trade that pairs Jimmy Butler with Nikola Jokic

Would adding Jimmy Butler make the Nuggets good enough to win another championship? Here’s how the team could add the disgruntled Heat superstar.

Jimmy Butler requesting a trade from the Miami Heat has 2025 off to a hot start – pun intended – in regards to NBA storylines. The build-up to the trade request had its own unique headlines thanks to Butler’s usage of his own hair to drop hints. Furthermore, Butler and his agent nixed the Memphis Grizzlies as a trade option, via NBA insider Chris Haynes.

But there is another Western Conference contender that should have internal dialogue about Butler’s potential fit on their roster. Funnily enough, it’s the team that sent Butler and the Heat home in the 2023 NBA Finals.

The Denver Nuggets have been the subject of plenty of trade rumors this season. The team’s quest for improvement would have to involve trading Michael Porter Jr. because of the extensions signed by teammates Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon in the offseason, via NBA insider Marc Stein.

Denver owns four first round draft picks through 2031. And the Stepien Rule renders the draft pick from that year, 2031, the only one able to be traded. If the team wanted to include another draft selection, they would have to wait until the end of the league year.

Nikola Jokic is the best player in the NBA. He turns 30 years old in a little over a month. If the Nuggets are serious about improving their roster soon, packaging their 2031 first-round pick with Porter Jr. and the necessary salaries is essentially their only option.

Trade proposal sends Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love to Nuggets

Porter Jr. and Butler have a difference in salary this season of about $13 million. But if Denver added Zeke Nnaji and Dario Saric to the deal, it would bring the outgoing salary to $49.7 million.

If the Heat included Kevin Love in the deal, it would bring their outgoing salary to $52.5 million and render the trade legal under the current CBA. Denver can attach their 2031 first-round draft selection to the deal with no problem.

Veteran center DeAndre Jordan has dutifully backed up Jokic again this season, averaging 11.3 minutes per game in the process. Love has played 11.4 minutes per game for Miami in his 16 games played. He hasn’t played since the infamous game against the Rockets on December 29.

Having clearly fallen out of favor with the Heat, there is a chance that Love could outplay Jordan as the team’s backup center in certain playoff matchups where his shooting would be helpful. Nobody’s style of play comes close to Jokic’s for several reasons, but the ways in which Love impacts the game with his savvy passing and shooting ability approximate what Jokic brings to the floor more closely than the rim-running Jordan.

The Heat get back Porter Jr., who can space the floor for both Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. They acquire the 24-year old Zeke Nnaji, who played in five postseason games during the Nuggets’ championship run and fits into “Heat Culture.” And they acquire the 30-year old Saric, an unfortunate representation of another misusage of the mid-level exception by the Nuggets. His deal only has one more year left.

The franchise would have an opportunity to see what “re-tooling” looks like before deciding whether or not to commit to a rebuild. Herro’s play this season has been impressive enough to justify giving it a try. But most importantly, they would put an official end to Butler’s trade request and the resulting drama surrounding the organization.

For the Nuggets, or any basketball team, having Jokic on your roster is the ultimate blessing. But the curse of it comes with the constant pressure to surround the superstar with the best talent possible. Stars request trades often in today’s NBA landscape. But are not often available for the package it would reportedly take to land Butler.

If the Nuggets want to pounce on this one instead of continuing to wait, this trade proposal provides the framework to make it happen.

Nuggets could use reinforcements

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Nuggets have sole possession of the fourth seed in the Western Conference. After the – yes, pun intended – rocky start to their season, they’ve found their level. And Russell Westbrook has been an enormous part of that process. His offensive impact has not been elite, but he has brought energy, hustle, and experience stuffing stat-sheets to the table. He averages 12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game as a result.

The issue for the Nuggets is that the injury to Gordon has made Westbrook the glue keeping together its starters. His job was supposed to be propelling the team’s second unit that, from a scoring perspective, is frankly nonexplosive. With the timeline surrounding Gordon’s return from injury being unclear, Westbrook’s services are still needed to open and close games.