Report: Houston Rockets will meet with Jimmy Butler early next week

The Houston Rockets and Jimmy Butler plan to have a meeting some time in the early parts of next week in Los Angeles.

The Houston Rockets continue to take steps towards acquiring forward Jimmy Butler. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Rockets plan to meet with Butler in Los Angeles early next week.

Sources: Jimmy Butler expected to meet the Miami Heat in South Fla. Sunday. Butler/Rockets meeting likely early week in LA. Sixers haven’t ruled out working with Butler on sign-and-trades, which Miami and Houston need to acquire the All-Star guard.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2019

Woj mentioned that Butler will first meet with the Miami Heat on Sunday. The Athletic’s Shams Charania has also reported that the Lakers and Nets are also interested in acquiring Butler.

Back in the early parts of last season, the Rockets tried to acquire Butler by offering the Timberwolves four first-round draft picks. Ultimately, Minnesota traded Butler to the 76ers, partly because they didn’t want to help a Western Conference rival improve in the short term.

Clearly, Darly Morey and the Rockets covet Butler and they have been aggressive in trying to put together a package that Philly would accept in a sign-and-trade, because Houston doesn’t have the space to sign Butler outright. In order to make the salaries match, the Rockets would have to trade Capela in order to acquire Butler, but the Sixers don’t need Capela since they have Joel Embiid. As a result, another team will likely be needed to complete a deal, and the Rockets have reportedly found a third team that is interested in taking Capela.

Butler averaged 18.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season. Not only is he a great scorer, but he is also one of the league’s premier perimeter defenders and his steals average of 1.9 ranked fifth in the league last season.

Butler has bumped heads with coaches and feuded with his teammates in the past, but that hasn’t seemed to stop teams from lining up to sign him. Butler would give Houston a third star, which would make them an even bigger threat to not only win the west but also an NBA championship.