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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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Utah Jazz Reacts: Who should the Jazz draft?

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Utah Jazz Reacts: Who should the Jazz draft?


The NBA Draft is less than a week away, and the Utah Jazz have a big decision to make. What’s difficult for the Jazz is that there isn’t an obvious choice between some incredible prospects at the top of the draft: AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer. Obviously, everything depends on what the Washington Wizards decide to do with their pick. But with all the smoke screens we’ve seen, it’s not clear who will be available to the Jazz.

That’s where you come in. If you were the Utah Jazz and you had the chance to choose between AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer, who would you choose?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Jazz fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.



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Utah first lady Abby Cox optimistic about legislative moves to strengthen child literacy

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Utah first lady Abby Cox optimistic about legislative moves to strengthen child literacy


SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is no stranger to discourse surrounding early child literacy.

While the Beehive State generally performs higher than other states in terms of proficiency measures, its leaders still recognize — especially post-COVID — that it’s a real issue that demands serious solutions.

A legislative audit released Tuesday said Utah school teachers and administrators should focus enhanced attention not only on third-graders, the traditional benchmark for early literacy, but also on first-graders, where data starts spotting early literacy challenges in young students.

Then, Utah first lady Abby Cox on Wednesday added to that discussion, speaking with Utah education and policy leaders about the need to meet the literacy crisis head-on and ways Utah has worked to do just that.

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“We’re not in the best place that we can be, and we’re a little ahead of the national average; we always have been, but that still isn’t great. We’re in a moment where everybody’s starting to realize this … business community, educators, all of us coming together to realize there’s an issue here,” Cox said.

She mentioned the passage of SB241 during the 2026 legislative session, which committed $25.6 million to literacy coaching, increased the statewide goal to have 80% of third-graders reading at grade-level by 2030 and includes an intervention measure requiring struggling third-graders to repeat the grade — “except in cases of certain good cause exemption.”

“I know we can get 97-plus percent of our kiddos reading on grade level by third grade. We can do this,” Cox said.

She also emphasized the need to get “attention-sucking machines,” AKA cellphones, out of classrooms — something top lawmakers in the state have made strides to emphasize.

July 1 will mark the start of a new Utah law ushered in with the passage of SB69 that essentially places a bell-to-bell ban on cellphones at Utah’s K-12 public schools, unless a school or district opts for a looser policy.

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The latest piece of legislation was built upon a similar bill passed during the 2025 session that set a default policy barring students from using their phones during class time.

Despite those restrictions, many lawmakers and educators argued they didn’t go far enough, which led to SB69.

“I don’t think we all know enough about how wonderful this is going to be,” Cox said, adding that data has shown library book checkouts have skyrocketed in schools that have instituted daylong cellphone ban policies.

“I talked to a principal who, after the first day of going bell-to-bell, walked into his high school lunch room, thinking there was a fight, because there was all this chaos and noise … and it was just (students) communicating with each other, playing cards, bringing little games,” Cox said. “It was just beautiful to see, and I think we’re going to see an incredible resurgence as we implement this statewide.”

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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Here’s why Bosnia-Herzegovina fans in Utah are living a ‘dream’ during the World Cup

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Here’s why Bosnia-Herzegovina fans in Utah are living a ‘dream’ during the World Cup


The nation’s soccer team practiced in front of fans this week at Real Salt Lake’s stadium in Sandy.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Fans cheer as Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

The majority of the Bosnians living in Utah did not leave for the Wasatch Front under favorable circumstances.

The Bosnian War in the mid-1990s brought more than 100,000 refugees to the United States, with thousands settling in Salt Lake City.

Thirty years later, however, a moment of celebration brought thousands of Bosnian-Americans together with the arrival of their country’s soccer team in Utah.

Blue and white jerseys flooded the plaza and stands of Real Salt Lake’s Sandy stadium on Monday to watch Bosnia-Herzegovina’s soccer team, which has made Utah its home base in between World Cup games.

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(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

“It was like a dream,” Anel Alagic, who was born in Bosnia but raised in Salt Lake, said. “That we qualified for the World Cup was crazy, but then they told us that the home base would never be here in Salt Lake. It’s surreal.”

The festivities extended beyond the field, as well, with several vendors and volunteers serving Bosnian food and drinks, including its signature coffee from the world’s largest coffee pot, which was made in Bosnia.

The pot is traveling with the national team, heading to Los Angeles on Thursday for a match against Switzerland and then to Seattle for Bosnia’s June 24 match against Qatar.

A dream just to qualify

Bosnia has qualified for the World Cup just twice since declaring its independence in 1992, with the first time coming in Brazil in 2014. This year’s team qualified in dramatic fashion, defeating four-time World Cup champion Italy on penalty kicks.

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The Bosnian fans are not taking their team’s presence in the World Cup for granted, with a viral video showing thousands marching in Toronto before the first game and 40,000 to 50,000 expected to be in attendance in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Two Bosnian restaurants in Salt Lake, Cafe on Main and Old Bridge Cafe, will both be closing their doors on Thursday to make the trek to California in support of their country.

And it’s not just people born in Bosnia jumping on the bandwagon, with Cafe on Main saying several Americans showed up in Bosnia jerseys to watch the opening game at the restaurant last week in a packed house.

“I’ve invited a lot of my co-workers and friends that typically don’t even watch soccer,” Alagic said of Bosnia World Cup fever catching on, thanks to events like the open training session. “I was like, ‘We’re having this event. Show out.’ I’ve seen a lot of people here, so it’s cool.”

Bringing people together

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Fans cheer as Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

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“Because of the war, our community is all over the world,” said RSL goalkeeper coach Mirza Harambasic, who is Bosnian. “It’s especially strong in the United States, and it’s strong here in Salt Lake City. So obviously everyone is so excited, so happy to be here, so happy to support.”

Harambasic was born in Bosnia and, like many others, came to the U.S. in the ‘90s. He helped coordinate Monday’s event and was confident in Salt Lake’s ability to accommodate the soccer needs of a World Cup team.

“When you talk about an environment to be successful, I don’t think there are many better places in the United States,” Harambasic said. “As far as city, lifestyle, training at elevation, and then obviously the facilities that RSL provides.”

With the first two games in Bosnia’s Group B ending in 1-1 draws, the top two spots are still very much up for the taking, giving fans just enough hope that the country can advance beyond the World Cup group stage for the first time in its history.

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