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Likelihood of Jimmy Butler trade to Suns increases following Phoenix-Utah deal: Source

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Likelihood of Jimmy Butler trade to Suns increases following Phoenix-Utah deal: Source


By Sam Amick, David Aldridge, Tony Jones, Jon Krawczynski, Sam Vecenie and Rebecca Tauber

The Phoenix Suns appear to be stocking up for a Jimmy Butler trade.

In the wake of the Suns’ deal with the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, in which Phoenix tripled its lot of available first-round picks, a source close to the Miami Heat star said there is rising optimism that he’s closer to reaching his desired destination — Phoenix — as a result. Yet as has been reported for months now, that possible deal is widely expected to include Bradley Beal, the Suns guard whose no-trade clause continues to loom large in this situation.

If Beal were willing, he would likely go to a third team. Yet according to a source close to Beal, there were no talks between the Suns and Beal as of Tuesday night about the prospect of him waiving his clause.

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It doesn’t add up — for now, at least — but the league-wide speculation about what might come next was in full effect because of the Suns’ latest efforts. As several rival executives indicated, Milwaukee is a team worth monitoring as the Suns continue to look for third-team partners in a Butler deal. Per league sources, the Bucks’ motives would be two-fold: Cut enough salary from their payroll to get under the second apron — the only way the Bucks can legally complete a trade while aggregating contracts — and also add a talented, highly paid player to play next to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, the NBA’s top scoring duo. Whether that would be Beal, or perhaps a star like Chicago’s Zach LaVine, in other potential scenarios remains to be seen.

Earlier Tuesday, the Suns traded their 2031 unprotected first-round pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029, league sources told The Athletic. ESPN first reported the trade.

The Suns received the least favorable of the first-round picks between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves this year and the least favorable of the Cavaliers, Timberwolves and Jazz picks in 2027 and 2029. The Cavaliers have the NBA’s best record so far this season, so the 2025 pick is likely to be at the bottom of the first round. The picks in 2027 and 2029 are also likely to be in the 20s.

How adding more first-round picks helps the Suns potentially acquire Butler

The Suns have a lot they’re trying to accomplish by the Feb. 6 trade deadline. First, of course, is figuring out a way to get Butler from Miami – but that is still contingent on getting Beal to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate any deal with the Heat, whether a two-team or multi-team deal. In the interim, Phoenix also has to find a way to move veteran center Jusuf Nurkić, and to do that, the Suns will likely have to attach a future first-round pick with him to get a team to take on Nurk’s $19.3 million for 2025-26.

With the three firsts from Utah, the Suns can now avoid the Stepien Rule and trade a first in any of the next six drafts (but, still, not in consecutive years). By turning one (unprotected) first into three picks, Phoenix has a little more flexibility to get into more potential deals — and more inventory to put into a Butler trade. — David Aldridge, senior columnist

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What Utah gets out of the deal with Phoenix

After the Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell trades, the Jazz had been overloaded with future draft selections, with 13 more first-rounders scheduled to arrive in the next seven years prior to this deal. Already, Utah has the third-youngest team in the league based on minutes played, even with Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, Jordan Clarkson and Drew Eubanks (all 27 or older) logging significant minutes. Utah has six players currently on the roster from the 2023 and 2024 NBA Drafts, and all of those players were 20 years old or younger to start the season.

This trade consolidates their three worst first-round picks into one potentially high-value selection: An unprotected Phoenix Suns first-rounder in 2031. The picks the Jazz sent out are likely to be No. 29 or 30 overall pick in 2025, a pick likely to be in the 20s in 2027 and another pick that should be a late first-rounder in 2029.

For the Jazz, this trade is a bet against the long-term future of the Suns after this era ends. Some league sources are highly skeptical about the longevity of this Suns era and aren’t sure they even sustain the middling level of success they’ve achieved in this Kevin Durant-Devin Booker-Beal era. Even if this trade leads to the Suns acquiring the 35-year-old Butler, that could lead to further issues in the future, especially if Butler receives a contract extension upon joining the team.

On the flip side, other league sources believe Suns owner Mat Ishbia’s willingness to spend long-term will prevent the Suns from truly bottoming out.

Nevertheless, this deal is likely worth it for the Jazz if they simply receive a pick in the back half of the lottery. Anything beyond that makes it an enormous win. Additionally, if the Suns start to bottom out in a few years, this pick could become highly sought after on the trade market right around the time the Jazz expect to be competing and turning things around.

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All told, it’s a deal that executives league-wide believe makes sense for Utah. — Sam Vecenie, senior NBA writer

Eric Nehm contributed to this story.

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(Photo: Jim Rassol / Imagn Images)



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22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide

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22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Officials have identified a 22-year-old man as the suspect in a Las Vegas homicide case that killed two people in a Southern Highlands neighborhood.

Detectives say 22-year-old Ziaire Ham was the suspect in the case. According to officials, Ham was located on Tuesday, March 3, by the Ogden City Police Department and the Utah Highway Patrol.

Ham was taken into custody and booked into the Weber County Jail. Las Vegas authorities said he will be charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and will be extradited back to the valley.

MORE ON FOX5: LVMPD corrections officer arrested on multiple felony charges

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The shooting occurred Monday night at the 11000 block of Victoria Medici Street, near Starr Ave and Dean Martin Drive.

According to police, officers were conducting a vehicle stop in the area when they heard gunfire. After searching nearby neighborhoods they found a car with bullet impacts with a woman and a toddler inside suffering from gunshot wounds.

The pair were transported to hospital where they later died. The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified them as Danaijha Robinson, 20, and 1-year-old Nhalani Hiner.



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Utah nonprofit creates events, experiences for disadvantaged children

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Utah nonprofit creates events, experiences for disadvantaged children


A simple moment watching a child laugh changed everything for Ivan Gonzalez.

Eight years ago, Gonzalez was working at the Ronald McDonald House when he had an idea to throw a birthday carnival for the kids staying there.

“Let’s do a carnival, birthday carnival for the kids,” he said.

MORE | Pay It Forward

What happened during that event stuck with him.

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“There I was watching this kid play whack-a-mole, just having a blast, laughing,” Gonzalez said. “And then I see his mom kind of with happy tears because he’s enjoying himself.”

That moment led to something bigger.

Gonzalez realized the experience shouldn’t stop with just one event or just one group of kids.

“I said, wait, we can do this not just for kids in the hospital,” he said with excitement.

So he started a nonprofit called Best Seat in the House, which creates events and experiences for children who often face difficult circumstances.

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“We provide events and experiences for disadvantaged kids,” Gonzalez said.

The organization serves children battling cancer and other medical conditions, refugee children, kids living in poverty, those in foster care and children with special needs.

“These kids grow up too fast,” Gonzalez said.

For Gonzalez, the mission is deeply personal.

“I grew up very poor,” he said.

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He remembers the people who stepped in for his family when they needed it most.

“The local church, we weren’t even a part of it,” he described. “My parents couldn’t afford Christmas gifts and I still remember the gifts they gave me. They didn’t even know me.”

Today, he hopes to create that same feeling for other children through his nonprofit.

“Kids live in poverty and they don’t know where the next meal is coming from, let alone going to a play or to a game,” Gonzalez said.

But for Gonzalez, the reward isn’t the events themselves, it’s the joy they create.

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“You can give me a billion dollars, all the money in the world,” he says as tears roll down his face. “I won’t trade these opportunitieskids just enjoying life.”

Because of his work giving back, KUTV and Mountain America Credit Union surprised Gonzalez with a Pay it Forward gift to help him continue creating those moments for kids across Utah.

For more information on supporting Best Seat in the House, click here.

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‘Don’t release him ever. Please.’ Family of slain Utah teen calls for justice at parole hearing

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‘Don’t release him ever. Please.’ Family of slain Utah teen calls for justice at parole hearing


SALT LAKE CITY — Francisco Daniel Aguilar says he’s sorry for shooting and killing his girlfriend, 16-year-old Jacqueline “Jacky” Nunez-Millan, a Piute High School sophomore, in 2023.

But just as he did when he was sentenced, he didn’t have much of an explanation on Tuesday as to why he shot her not once, but twice.

“It just kinda happened. I was mad. And I stepped out (of my truck) and started shooting,” he said. “When I saw her fall, I just kind of panicked, I just went and shot her again.”

But Jacky’s friends and family members say even before she was killed, Aguilar already had a history of violence, and they now want justice to be served.

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“You don’t accidentally take a gun, you don’t accidentally grab a knife … you don’t accidentally shoot someone, those are all choices,” a tearful Rosa Nunez, Jacky’s sister, said at Tuesday’s hearing. “Keep him where he needs to be.

“Don’t release him ever. Please.”

On Jan. 7, 2023, Aguilar, who was 17 at the time, got into a fight with his girlfriend, Jacky, shot her twice and left her body near a dirt road outside of Circleville, Piute County. He was convicted as an adult of aggravated murder and sentenced to a term of 25 years to up to life in prison.

Because of Aguilar’s age at the time of the offense, board member Greg Johnson explained Tuesday that the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole is required to hold a hearing much earlier than the 25-year mark, mainly to check on Aguilar and “see how things are going.” Aguilar, now 20, is currently being held in a juvenile secure care facility and will be transferred to the Utah State Prison when he turns 25 or earlier if he has discipline violations and is kicked out of the youth facility.

According to Aguilar’s sentencing guidelines, he will likely remain in custody until at least the year 2051.

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During Tuesday’s hearing, Aguilar told the board that he was feeling “stressed out” during his senior year of high school. He said he and Jacky would often have little arguments. But their bigger fight happened when he failed to get her a “promise ring” around Christmastime, he said.

On the night of the killing, the two were arguing about the promise ring and other items, Aguilar recalled. At one point, he grabbed a knife and then a gun because, he said, he wanted to “irritate” and “scare” Jacky. According to evidence presented in the preliminary hearing, Aguilar and his girlfriend had been “trying to make each other angry” when Aguilar took ammunition and a 9mm gun from his father’s room and then drove to the Black Hill area in his truck with Jacky.

Jacky’s friend, McKall Taylor, went looking for her that night and found her. But after Aguilar shot Jacky in the leg, he began shooting at Taylor, who had no choice but to run to her car to get away. Her car was hit multiple times by bullets. Aguilar then shot Jacky a second time as she lay on the ground and Taylor drove away.

On Tuesday, Taylor’s mother, Lori Taylor, read a statement to the board on her daughter’s behalf.

“My innocence and freedom was taken from me,” she said.

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McKall Taylor says the “horrifying events of that night will forever play in my head,” and the sounds of Jacky screaming and the gunshots as well as the sight of Jacky falling to the ground, will never go away.

“Francisco is a murderer who has zero remorse,” her letter states.

Likewise, Rosa Nunez told the board that for her and her family, “nothing in our world has felt safe since” that night as they all “continue to relive this horrific moment.”

After shooting Jacky and driving off, Aguilar says he called his father and “told him I was sorry for not being better, for not making good choices, I told him that I loved him. I was just planning on probably shooting myself, too.”

His father told him that although what he did wasn’t right, “he’d rather see me behind bars than in a casket,” and then told his son to “be a man about it. … This is where you have to change.”

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Aguilar was arrested after his tires were spiked by police.

“An apology won’t fix what I did. I’ll never be able to fix what I did. But I want to say I’m sorry,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t even know how to fix what I did. I’m hoping I’m on the right track now.”

Johnson noted that Aguilar has done well during his short time being incarcerated. But that doesn’t change the fact “the crime was horrific,” he said.

The full five-member board will now take a vote. The board could decide to schedule another parole hearing for sometime in the future or could order that Aguilar serve his entire life sentence. But even if that were to happen, Johnson says Aguilar could petition every so often for a redetermination hearing.

The board’s decision is expected in several weeks.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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