NBA Trade Rumors: Celtics reportedly looking to send No. 3 pick to Bulls for Jimmy Butler

According to recent NBA Trade Rumors, the Boston Celtics are looking to send the No. 3 pick in Thursday’s 2017 NBA Draft to the Chicago Bulls for Jimmy Butler.

While the move has yet to be made official, NBA trade rumors have the Boston Celtics trading the first overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to the Philadelphia 76ers. In exchange, the Celtics will receive the third overall pick and valuable draft capital in the future.

This deal is interesting on the surface but it may be the first of many moves made by the Celtics as they look to compete in the short term. The most commonly linked name to Boston in NBA trade rumors is Chicago Bulls star forward Jimmy Butler.

Butler is one of the best two-way players in the NBA and would undoubtedly take the Celtics to the next level. As great as Butler is, the Bulls have not been able to properly build around him and may be better off tearing their roster down for a complete rebuild.

On First Take on Monday morning, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith suggested that the Celtics are looking to trade their soon-to-be-acquired third overall pick in exchange for Butler. Smith also said that the Bulls were willing to part with Butler in exchange for the third pick in a trade with the 76ers, but Philadelphia was not interested in that swap.

“The Bulls were talking to the Philadelphia 76ers. They wanted the number three overall pick and they were willing to unload Jimmy Butler,” Smith said on First Take. “Boston and Philadelphia obviously were willing to swap picks and as a result, the Boston Celtics are planning on acquiring Jimmy Butler, they don’t know if they’ll be able to.”

“But their hope is that they’ll be able to use the number three pick, get themselves Jimmy Butler. Go into free agency, get Gordon Hayward.”

Very interesting comments to say the least. The Celtics appear to have a strong plan of attack prior to Thursday’s draft. If they can find a way to add Butler and Hayward, they would be legitimate threats to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East.

Make sense for both sides?

However, is the number three pick alone enough to get Butler to Boston? Smith suggests that the Bulls were ready to do that deal with the 76ers, so it might be. However, I personally would look at that deal as a loss for the Bulls.

They need to find a way to get something more in this trade. Adding an impact player like Lonzo Ball or Josh Jackson at number three would be a great start to the rebuild, but the Bulls need to get more. The Celtics have a ton of extra future first round picks going forward. The Bulls need to at least land one of those. Also, a guy like point guard Terry Rozier would be a nice throw-in piece.

Next: Butler to Celtics trade now more likely?

Butler to the Celtics makes a lot of sense for both sides. The Bulls need to jumpstart this rebuild and trading Butler is the only way to do that. That being said, trading him at a discounted price is not the right move to make. If the Celtics are only offering the third overall pick, GarPax is better off just moving on.

Jimmy Butler is a fantastic NBA player who is simply worth more than that.