Should Pacers try to acquire Jimmy Butler?

With one year remaining on his contract, it is not out of the realm of possibilities for Jimmy Butler to be traded. Should the Indiana Pacers try to get him?

The NBA, and Indiana Pacers, offseason craziness continues. Well, potentially. The Athletic reported on Saturday that Jimmy Butler and Timberwolves brass will meet Monday to “have honest conversations” about the two sides’ future.

Butler has the option to decide his future next summer when he can become an unrestricted free agent.

In the story, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania detailed that there is a lot of tension and uncertainty within the organization, specifically mentioning Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and head coach Tom Thibodeau. Approaching training camp, no better is there a time to put any issues on the table.

Last season, Butler’s first with the team, was the first time Minnesota had made the postseason in 14 years. They didn’t clinch their spot until the last day of the regular season, and they lost in the first round. Still, the appearance alone must’ve been euphoric for a team coming out of such a long drought.

Now that they’ve had a taste, Minnesota wants more — and Butler can help them get there. But if he explains Monday that he doesn’t think he will re-sign next summer, it would be foolish for the Wolves to not pivot and gauge his trade value.

As a successful team looking for a second star, the Indiana Pacers would have to make a call.

After battling with Butler for years while he was in Chicago, Indiana knows him pretty well. He has caused the Pacers pain.

The fit with the Pacers

The main worry when thinking of a Butler trade is the fit with Victor Oladipo. The other players are important, but when it comes down to it, star power reigns. There is no star power on the roster outside of Oladipo.

With the way the game is played today, most stars can pair up and make it work. And with the recent track record of the league with player movement, there is a pretty good sample of different stars teaming up and making it work.

Some have more success than others, obviously. Kevin Durant joining the Warriors worked out pretty well. Last season, Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis, and Paul George and Russell Westbrook had full seasons of run together. Until Hayward got hurt, and then Cousins got hurt. George added one win to the Thunder from the team’s previous season.

Hayward will be healthy this season and George re-signed with OKC, so this season will be a better sample. It is hard to imagine a scenario where those teams don’t improve, health permitting.

With that being said, it wouldn’t be surprising for a Butler-Oladipo pairing to struggle in the first season should a trade be made. But in the long-term, it would be worth a shot.

Butler and Oladipo are similar players, actually. Aesthetically, they’re not. Oladipo is the quick, explosive guard that just runs by guys. Butler backs his defender down and makes his money with strength and power.

The two don’t do things the same way, but they do a lot of the same things well.

For starters, both are capable deep threats but actually do their best work inside the arc. Butler loves the mid-range — he attempted 48 percent of his shots from there last season, converting attempts 44 percent of the time. Attempts at the rim made up 32 percent of his game, where he converted 63 percent of the time — both above average marks. Just 20 percent of his shots came from deep.

Oladipo’s splits look like this: 31 percent of shots at the rim (67 percent made), 39 percent of shots at the rim (43 percent made), and 30 percent of shots from deep (37 percent made).

Both players are better with the ball in their hands but are also two of the better players in the league at creating for others. Oladipo boasted a 20.9 assist percentage last season (93rd percentile among wings) while Butler’s assist percentage came in at 20.5 (92nd percentile).

Sometimes being too similar can be a problem, but other times it isn’t. Jimmy Butler’s game is pretty similar to teammate Andrew Wiggins’s, too. When they shared the court last season, the team had a 9.4 net rating. And Wiggins is much, much worse than Oladipo.

In short, the fit isn’t a worry. When you can acquire a star, you do it.

What would the Pacers have to trade to get Jimmy Butler?

This is where it all breaks down. Outside of Oladipo and Myles Turner, Indiana does have some intriguing pieces. Domantas Sabonis is the most intriguing, with rookie Aaron Holliday and the six expiring deals trailing behind.

The tough part is that it is impossible for the Pacers to send Minnesota a package that includes both upside and certainty.

They could go young, sending Sabonis, Holliday, a future pick and perhaps one of Alize Johnson or TJ Leaf. There are a lot of issues with this deal. It isn’t a bad package, relatively speaking, but it is bad for the Wolves. Holliday could allow Minnesota to deal Tyus Jones, who will be due a new contract next summer. A Sabonis-Towns frontcourt pairing, while versatile on offense, would be a trainwreck on defense.

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Minnesota could also opt for the expiring deals, taking back former Wolf Thaddeus Young and other players to make the money work. The benefit for Minnesota here would be the option to dump some money on the Pacers, likely in the form of Jeff Teague (…welcome back?) and/or Gorgui Dieng.

These players 1) would not replace the output of Jimmy Butler and 2) could leave in free agency next summer. Having cap space in the NBA can be exciting, but when you have to try to convince free agents how great Minnesota winters actually are, it just ends up disappointing.

The real hang up is the overlap of Towns and Sabonis. A team dangling a star in need of an ultra-skilled offensive big would be great partners for the Pacers. The Timberwolves are not that team.

If the Indiana Pacers were to make Turner available here, it probably still wouldn’t get it done. Turner is due a new deal next summer, so this season doesn’t seem like the appropriate time to experiment playing him next to Towns.

Acquiring Butler in a trade would be a huge coup and would put Indiana right up there with Toronto and Boston in the East. Unfortunately, though, it doesn’t seem like the Pacers would have enough to get a deal done.