2025 NBA Trade Deadline Predictions: Jimmy Butler, Lakers, More

It's 2025 NBA trade deadline week. And although the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks got things started early with the Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis blockbuster (and the San Antonio Spurs followed suit by landing De'Aaron Fox), there are still plenty more dominoes to potentially fall.

Rumors have swirled around Jimmy Butler for months. Cameron Johnson and Brandon Ingram have been floating around the rumor mill, too. And several tanking teams have veterans who can help contenders.

All the ingredients are in place for a pretty big deadline day on Thursday.

Here are predictions on some of the teams and players who'll be involved.

The Toronto Raptors are one of those rebuilding teams with multiple, movable contracts attached to players who can help winning teams.

Bruce Brown is making $23 million and is on an expiring contract. Chris Boucher's also on an expiring deal and is at $10.8 million. And while Kelly Olynyk is the oldest of the trio and is secured through 2025-26, he might be the most interesting target for contenders around the league.

Over the last four seasons, Olynyk has averaged 16.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.6 threes per 75 possessions while shooting 38.5 percent from deep. That combination of outside shooting and playmaking from the 5 could boost just about any bench.

Given the size and length of his contract, Boucher's and Brown's, expect Toronto to find takers for at least two of these role players in exchange for some rebuild-friendly assets like second-round picks or young players.

The Utah Jazz are in a similar position, though they may not need to unload their vets in quite the same way Toronto does.

Utah is losing the minutes of all three of John Collins, Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson. And they're already cruising toward a bottom-three record, and thus, a 14 percent chance at the top pick in 2025.

But moving two or three of the above could improve their chase of ping pong balls in the draft lottery. With none of them figuring to be important pieces of the Jazz's future, they might as well see if they can get some second-round picks or young talent for them.

Collins and Sexton have to be particularly intriguing for teams around the league. The big man is averaging 18.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.5 threes in 29.7 minutes while shooting 45.3 percent from deep. The guard is at 18.6 points, 4.1 assists and 2.0 threes in 29.1 minutes while shooting 41.7 percent from three.

Either could make a winning team's bench significantly more dangerous. Consider this a prediction that at least two of them will get a chance to do just that.

One more team in this position for you.

The Washington Wizards aren't just bad—they're absolutely atrocious. Like, potentially the "worst team in NBA history" bad.

Not only are they on pace for just 10 wins, but they're also currently tied for the worst average point differential of all time.

And the poor play hasn't been exclusive to Washington's young core.

Kyle Kuzma, whose name was all over rumors leading up to last season's trade deadline, has had a dismal 2024-25. He's averaging 14.4 points, with a 46.0 effective field-goal percentage over eight points shy of the league average of 54.1.

The oft-injured Malcolm Brogdon, meanwhile, has appeared in just 18 games. Adding him could just be begging for absences.

And while Jordan Poole's been good—he's averaging 20.7 points, 4.8 assists and 3.6 threes while shooting 39.2 percent from three—his contract runs through 2026-27 (when he's set to make $34 million). That may scare off some suitors.

Washington will surely listen to offers on all of the above (and probably more), but they may have to be content to just keep losing as is.

The 2024-25 campaign has been a injury-riddled nightmare for the New Orleans Pelicans. And they got more bad news this week, when ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Dejounte Murray would miss the rest of the season with a torn Achilles.

If it wasn't already clear that this is a lost season and chance for New Orleans to secure a top pick in the 2025 draft, this injury makes it so.

So, it shouldn't be all that surprising that HoopsHype's Michael Scotto added to the news by writing that the Pelicans will "try to make a trade to get below the luxury-tax threshold by the deadline, sources say..."

Despite their sub-25 winning percentage, New Orleans has some solid players who can help them accomplish that goal. A Brandon Ingram trade that returns less than his $36 million salary could do it, too.

Given that they're just about $2 million over that tax threshold, expect them to find a way to duck it.

Injuries have limited 32-year-old Bogdan Bogdanović to just 24 games this season, and he hasn't been close to his career numbers in those games.

Right now, he's averaging 10.0 points, 2.0 assists and 1.8 threes while only hitting 30.1 percent of his three-point attempts.

His struggles are absolutely part of the Atlanta Hawks' worse-than-expected 2024-25 campaign, but he's shown more than enough in prior seasons to still be a valuable asset.

His shooting and secondary playmaking could help a number of teams. His contract is easily movable (it pays him just $17.3 million this season, drops to $16 in 2025-26 and carries a $16 million team option for 2026-27). And the "Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat, and other teams" have already shown some interest in acquiring him.

There's enough smoke here to suggest someone will trade for him.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could pretty easily justify standing pat.

They're on pace for 66 wins. They may have the 2024-25 MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Chet Holmgren will likely return to action before the season ends.

Without doing anything ahead of the deadline, OKC is undoubtedly a bona fide title contender.

But they're also in a unique position to go after one of the most valuable players potentially available this week in Cameron Johnson.

The Brooklyn Nets sharpshooter is on a manageable contract that runs through 2026-27, when he makes $22.5 million. And the Thunder having Holmgren and Jalen Williams on their rookie contracts means they have plenty of room to take on that money.

The salaries of Isaiah Joe and Ousmane Dieng add up to enough to bring back Johnson's, and OKC has picks to burn in any trade.

If there's anything we know about NBA title windows, it's that they usually don't last as long as expected. So, the Thunder should do what they can to maximize the one that's open now.

Perhaps that's why OKC's been the favorite to land Johnson at various times this season. This week, they'll make it happen.

Butler has been attached to the Phoenix Suns for weeks, but that deal simply isn't getting done without Bradley Beal somehow involved.

And, well, there's just no reason for Miami to take Beal's contract back. In fact, it's hard to imagine any team in the league justifying the acquisition of Beal.

Beal is still a solid offensive player. He's averaging 17.0 points, 3.4 assists and 2.1 threes while shooting 40.0 percent from three. But he's a liability on defense, has the fifth-highest salary in 2024-25, has a $57.1 million player option in 2026-27 and has a no-trade clause.

In other words, Beal is on what is almost certainly the worst contract in the NBA right now. And the Suns don't have enough draft assets to incentivize anyone to take that on.

He'll still be a Sun on Friday.

A pre-publish draft of this article predicted Butler would wind up with the Golden State Warriors.

Given Butler's seemingly intentional drive to crater his own trade value and Golden State's closing contention window with soon-to-be-37-year-old Stephen Curry, the Warriors felt like the only team potentially desperate enough to sign up for Butler and all the drama that's followed him in at least three of his last four stops.

And then, late Sunday night, ESPN's Brian Windhorst broke the news that Butler had somehow, yet again, hurt the Miami Heat's chances to do the thing he supposedly wants them to do.

With the most logical remaining suitor seemingly off the board, it's actually easier to imagine Butler simply remaining in Miami.

No matter how hard he and his real team angle to get him to the Phoenix Suns, there isn't a construction of a deal there that makes sense (though we just saw Dallas take a nonsensical deal for Luka Dončić).

The Heat understandably don't want to be saddled with Beal's contract. And at least for now, it doesn't look like they have a third team to rope in to take that on either.

So, Butler may now be stuck in Miami. Whether he plays or not, he might pick up his player option for 2025-26, and the Heat will be forced to deal with this all over again in the offseason (and possibly up to next year's trade deadline).

Dallas sent a cornerstone-level talent and one of the 3-5 best basketball players in the world to L.A. for way less than his market value. That means the Lakers still have assets left over to add role players.

And there are plenty of good ones around the salary range they can get to by trading some combination of Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt. They can also move three first-round pick swaps and one outright first-rounder.

That's enough to go after names like Nic Claxton, John Collins, Clint Capela and more. And since they just forced their title window open, the Lakers can easily justify one more win-now move.

Expect them to make one.