Atlanta Hawks Should Want Jimmy Butler on the Cleveland Cavaliers

Jimmy Butler has requested a trade in his second consecutive offseason, this time from the Timberwolves. Here’s where Atlanta Hawks fans should want him to end up.

Just like that, the Tom Thibodeau/Jimmy Butler marriage is over… and the Atlanta Hawks could reap the benefits if the cards fall their way.

Almost every team in the league, both contending and rebuilding, are seemingly interested in the four-time All-Star, four-time All-Defense and two-time All-NBA member. He has released a list of his preferred destinations, which include the Brooklyn Nets, the Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks.

All three of these destinations are interesting for different reasons, but there is one potential suitor that was not listed that should be particularly appealing to Atlanta Hawks fans: the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As many of you know, the Hawks have a rooting interest in the Cavaliers in the 2018-19 season, as the team owns a Top-10 protected draft pick of Cleveland’s in the 2019 draft. Though the Cavs did not gut their roster as many expected, the team is still a ramshackle shell of itself with the driving force of LeBron James behind it.

Enter Jimmy Buckets. Butler could come in and immediately serve as the number-one option, scooting Kevin Love to the side once again yet also allowing the team’s ceiling to increase dramatically.

With Butler as the team’s alpha dog and leader on offense and defense, the Cavaliers suddenly look fairly threatening in a watered-down East. With Butler, Love, George Hill, Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith returning to the fold along with the likely rise of Cedi Osman and Collin Sexton, the Cavs might have a surprise 5-seed in them in the 2018-19 season.

Of course, all the Atlanta Hawks need is for the Cavs to have one of the 11-best records in the league so that the Top-10 protected pick falls to Atlanta come next July. While a Cavs playoff berth would be preferable to ensure the draft pick makes it into the Hawks’ coffers, it is not required.

However, having Jimmy Butler return to the East on a Cavs team that just lost its greatest player in franchise history would serve as interesting symmetry – especially considering that Butler apparently did not want to join James on the Lakers.

Either way, the 2018-19 season should be a doozy, so keep it locked to Soaring Down South for all your Atlanta Hawks news and updates.