Should the Detroit Pistons try to acquire Jimmy Butler?

Earlier today, Jimmy Butler informed the Minnesota Timberwolves that he’d like to be traded. Should the Detroit Pistons get involved? Andrew Brewster weighs the options.

Jimmy Butler has requested a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic.

This has been rumored for the past several days, ever since a meeting between Butler and Tom Thibodeau was also reported by Charania back on Sep. 15.

Detroit Pistons fans are well acquainted with Butler, who terrorized their club for years with the Chicago Bulls, before a trade sent him to the Timberwolves in 2017.

Now, some Pistons fans, disillusioned by the current roster, are pining for a trade to bring the star shooting guard back to the Central Division.

I really don’t anticipate Detroit going after a player like Butler. It seems like the Pistons are content with just competing for the playoffs over the next few years, and I would be shocked if they took (another) home-run swing on an injury-riddled, 30-year-old veteran.

However, it’s an interesting conversation, and thus, I took a question to Twitter to see what fans were thinking.

Out of nearly 400 votes, our followers were clearly in favor of trading Blake Griffin straight up for Jimmy Butler. We obviously didn’t ask if fans would be more in favor of a trade package around players like Luke Kennard, Reggie Jackson, or even future draft picks.

But I think the Griffin question alone is interesting for a few reasons.

First and foremost, I kind of anticipated more than 60 percent of the fans to reject this idea. Since Griffin came to the team, I have largely seen negativity directed towards him, and I figured most fans would jump at the chance to unload his salary.

However, 40 percent of the voters seem to have the same perspective on this possibility as I do.

Why I would not trade Blake Griffin for Jimmy Butler

1. Jimmy Butler is coming off a meniscus injury. Yes, Blake Griffin has his own health concerns, but Butler’s is more recent and, therefore, more disconcerting for me.
2. Butler is the same age as Griffin, but he’s played most of his career for Tom Thibodeau, which means long, hard minutes and practices. To me, Butler has many more miles on his legs than Griffin.
3. Butler specified that his preferred destinations are Brooklyn, Los Angeles (Clippers), and New York, as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. While the Pistons could swing for the fences like the Toronto Raptors did with Kawhi Leonard, I don’t think that would be wise. Unless they simply want to dump Griffin’s contract and start a rebuild.
4. I don’t think replacing Griffin with Butler changes much for the Detroit Pistons this year. They’re pretty good at shooting guard already (Kennard, Reggie Bullock), and if they got rid of Griffin, they’d be left with Jon Leuer starting in that slot.
5. My fifth, possibly irrational reason, is that I believe Stanley Johnson still has the potential to develop into a player similar to Butler. To me, his ceiling looks a lot like Butler’s and I’m more bullish than most that he reaches a level that high.

Do you think the Detroit Pistons should go all-in and trade for Butler?

Let us know with your best trade package in the comment section!