In light of the Denver Nuggets’ move to fire head coach Michael Malone on Tuesday, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported that the Nuggets didn’t pursue star forward Jimmy Butler before the February trade deadline.

However, the Memphis Grizzlies, who also fired their head coach in stunning fashion recently, did pursue Butler, according to Jackson.

Of the two playoff teams that stunningly decided their coach must be fired now, only Memphis pursued Butler. Offer was decent, but not as good as Golden State’s. Denver never pursued Butler. (Though hypothetical scenarios involving Porter made sense, Nuggets didn’t pursue.)

https://twitter.com/flasportsbuzz/status/1909671361196273942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1909671361196273942%7Ctwgr%5Ed21a0b7575b8c2b850fbd13c88e32f6aa22d196f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fheatnation.com%2Frumors%2Freport-miami-heat-received-decent-offer-from-memphis-grizzlies-for-jimmy-butler%2F

One X user asked Jackson if he could give some details as to the specifics of the Grizzlies’ offer to the Miami Heat prior to the deadline. While Jackson wouldn’t name names, he reiterated that the Grizzlies’ offer was “decent.”

I was told it was ‘decent’ but Warriors’ was better. I know only some of the names, so not reporting names (because it’s incomplete).

https://twitter.com/flasportsbuzz/status/1909672297608212891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1909672297608212891%7Ctwgr%5Ed21a0b7575b8c2b850fbd13c88e32f6aa22d196f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fheatnation.com%2Frumors%2Freport-miami-heat-received-decent-offer-from-memphis-grizzlies-for-jimmy-butler%2F

Of course, Butler saw his stint with the Heat come to an end earlier this year when he was dealt to the Golden State Warriors. The final trade included five teams. By coughing up Butler and some other trade chips, the Heat were able to acquire forward Andrew Wiggins, forward Kyle Anderson, guard Davion Mitchell and a protected first-round pick.

Butler’s tenure in Miami spanned more than five full seasons, and he was one of the more talented players at his position in the NBA in that span. He earned two All-Star nods with Miami and also led the league in steals per game in the 2020-21 season.

More importantly, Butler was quite the playoff riser as a member of the Heat and was a catalyst behind two NBA Finals runs for the team. Miami reached the championship series in the years 2020 and 2023, and Butler averaged 22-plus points per game in each of those memorable playoff runs.

Maybe a deal for Butler would have proven to be valuable in the final stretch of the 2024-25 season for Memphis. Without him, the team has taken a dip down the Western Conference standings in recent weeks.

The Grizzlies have lost all but three of their last 10 contests played and sit as the No. 8 seed in the West, though it’s worth noting that Memphis is just two games back of the No. 3 seed Los Angeles Lakers.

To their credit, the Grizzlies have won two straight. They will try for their third consecutive win when they do battle against the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night. The Hornets own the second-worst record of any team in the Eastern Conference this season at 19-59.