The NBA trade deadline is coming, with Butler and Fox perhaps available for teams looking to deal

MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler remains part of the Miami Heat, for now. De’Aaron Fox is still with the Sacramento Kings, for now. And Golden State coach Steve Kerr seemed to indicate that the Warriors are seriously weighing their options.

It’s NBA trade deadline countdown time.

There could be chaos. There might not be much of anything. By Thursday afternoon’s deadline, there will be answers — although perhaps not the answers some fans are looking for from their teams.

“We don’t have enough to separate ourselves from the rest of the West,” Kerr said Friday before Golden State played Phoenix. “The point is, we’re not in a position where we can just say, ‘No, we’re good. Let’s stand pat.’ That’s the reality of where we are.”

Butler wants a trade out of Miami and the Heat are trying to accommodate him; Golden State is believed to be one of the places where he’d like to land. Another is Phoenix, a team still looking to move out of the Western Conference’s play-in range and secure one of the six guaranteed playoff spots.

“The front office, regardless of your record, is always trying to make your team better, trying to find ways to improve,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said Friday. “They have the same mindset of our team, of our players — we’re always trying to get better. I’m happy with the group. We feel like we’ve got a very good team. Gonna coach them up and if there’s any changes, then I think it’s going to be made to improve us. I don’t really have any idea if anything will happen.”

Fox’s future has been a talking point in Sacramento for the last several days, and Kings teammate DeMar DeRozan told FanDuel on Friday that the uncertainty of it all is weighing on his mind.

“Not knowing the future of that, it does make it tougher,” DeRozan said.

This much is certain: San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama is not getting traded by the Spurs before Thursday’s deadline.

The Spurs have been mentioned as a possible suitor for Fox, the Sacramento point guard who could be on the move. But the whole notion — trading players — is still something that seems odd to Wembanyama.

“Every team has made trades,” Wembanyama said Friday night after San Antonio downed Milwaukee. “It’s still something hard to realize that you can be traded, kind of like an object. It’s super weird.”

The Heat left Miami for a four-game road trip on Friday that won’t bring them back home until after the trade deadline. Butler wasn’t on the trip — he’s still serving an indefinite suspension that will last at least three more games — but it remains entirely possible that the names of those players on the flight Friday and the names of players who land in Miami when the trip ends will be different.

“We’ve got all the chaos going on,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said. “But these are the times where we go on the road and get that collective grit and huddle together and depend on one another.”

Kerr said he and Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy speak daily about what’s happening. Warriors guard Stephen Curry is still one of the game’s best players, and there have been times this season — like a win over Oklahoma City earlier this week — when Golden State shows its potential. There have also been plenty of times when it seems like Curry and the Warriors need help to get back to title contention.

“Mike’s doing his due diligence, doing his job,” Kerr said. “If there’s something that makes sense, he’s going to do it. And if not, then I’m very comfortable going forward with this team because I know what we’re capable of and I believe in the guys.”

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba