To understand the state of the 2025 NBA trade deadline, with one week to go and one Jimmy Butler still in a standoff with his own team, you have to go back to 2022. With the 3 p.m. ET deadline on Feb.

This presupposes that the trade for Beal is the original roster construction problem in Phoenix that must be solved -- that under the new collective bargaining agreement, building a team around three max salary players, one of whom is performing far below a max level, is untenable.

LeBron James is the other. It’s no secret that the Suns want disgruntled Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler. Beal would need to be sent out in that trade, but the Heat reportedly don’t want him. That means a potential Butler trade to Phoenix has to be a multi-team deal where Beal goes to an approved location.