Bill Simmons came up with a four-team trade that would involve Butler heading to Phoenix. He said on his podcast : "Well, the trade I came up with was Butler to the Suns, Beal to the Bucks, Miami gets Khris Middleton, Steven Adams from Houston and Cam Whitmore from Houston, and Houston gets Brook Lopez, and that actually works."

If the Heat keeps Butler past Feb. 6 and he opts out, Miami could either use a $14 million midlevel exception and a $5.1 million bi-annual exception or use about $13 million in cap space (which swells to $23 million if Robinson is released early this summer).