Butler led Miami to the NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023, and is famous for his superb play in the postseason. This season, he's averaging 17 points on a career-best 54% shooting from the field, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 25 games.

The 3 p.m. ET deadline was a moment in time, but this 2025 version qualified as a “trade week” at least, almost as a “trade season” if we look back to Dec. 15 when Thomas Bryant moved from Miami to Indiana and Dennis Schröder went from Brooklyn to Golden State.

Even though it's 16 months away, summer 2026 was the dominant factor in this week's surge of deadline dealing.