NBA Rumors: Wild 4-Team Trade Scenario Involving Donovan Mitchell & Jimmy Butler

Every summer, the NBA features lots of drama, superstars who want to change teams, and juicy trade rumors surrounding it all. Today we bring you a wild 4-team scenario that encompasses all of that.

Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report has heard from many around the NBA that Donovan Mitchell could "force his way out of Cleveland" unless the Cavs go to the Finals and/or win it all. He also hears that the Miami Heat top his wishlist of destinations.

Combine that with the murmurs around the league that the Heat should consider trading an aging Jimmy Butler (though Pat Riley has flatly denied that would happen), and Pincus comes up with a wild 4-team trade scenario that would go down like this:

Miami Heat Receive:

Donovan Mitchell (via Cavaliers)
Kyle Kuzma (via Wizards)
$13.4 million trade exception (Jimmy Butler)
$2.5 million trade exception (Nikola Jović)
$2.3 million trade exception (Tyler Herro)

Philadelphia 76ers Receive:

Jimmy Butler

Cleveland Cavaliers Receive:

Tyler Herro (via Heat)
No. 15 pick (via Heat)
2026 Phoenix Suns second-round pick (via Wizards)
2028 LA Clippers first-round pick (via 76ers)
2030 first-round pick (via Heat)
$6.4 million trade exception (Mitchell)
$2.6 million trade exception (Ty Jerome)

Washington Wizards Receive:

Paul Reed Jr. (via 76ers)
Nikola Jović (via Heat)
Ty Jerome (via Cavaliers)
No. 16 pick (via 76ers)
2026 (TBD) first-round pick (via 76ers)
$23.5 million trade exception (Kuzma)

That's certainly a lot to digest. But parsed out, Mitchell gets to go where he wants, Butler heads back to Philly to team up with Joel Embiid, only now with a third All-Star on hand in Tyrese Maxey, while the Heat swap out Butler for a much younger Mitchell and Kyle Kuzma (plus a couple of first-rounders going out), an intriguing 2 stars-for-1.

The Wizards and Cavaliers get themselves a slew of first-round picks, and in the case of Cleveland, still get back a poor man's version of the scoring guard that Spida is, in Tyler Herro. That would return the team's core future back to Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

It's hard to imagine the vast number of hoops that it would take jumping through to pull off a wild 4-teamer like this, but kudos to Pincus for even coming up with such a mind-blowing plan.