Countdown to the trade deadline: Jimmy Butler

According to the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson, more than one general manager thinks the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls will reconsider the topic of a Jimmy Butler trade before the February 23rd trade deadline passes.

You're forgiven if you're skeptical. You should be. Not of the source - it's no surprise GMs around the league are connecting the Celts to every trade rumor imaginable, and several which never should have been imagined in the first place too. But that's to be expected when you're sitting on a vault full of potential trade assets with as much flexibility as three-fourths of the teams in the league.

It's led to a bit of weariness on both the writer's and reader's end of the bargain, with a seemingly endless cavalcade of new whispers sparking panic, ebullience - or both - every five days. And with the Bulls appearing to be on the precipice of an expected implosion, recent internal struggles - some of them very public - have reportedly divided the Bulls' front office on Jimmy Buckets' future with the club.

Here is Jimmy Butler just walking to the bench. There was no one ready to sub for him. pic.twitter.com/AZEgiFkrWE

— Chicago Sports News (@ChiSportUpdates) January 28, 2017

Cue the Boston connection, but the situation is different than it was this summer. If the Bulls are questioning his value, perhaps the Celts should too? Is Butler really worth what Chicago is going to ask (a boatload, and then some), given how Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley have been performing at a fraction of the cost? Particularly if it requires what could be a franchise - or even generational - talent getting passed to the Bulls via either (or both) of the Brooklyn picks? Or would he be the missing piece that puts Boston into true contention?