Jimmy Butler and Isaiah Thomas: All-Star Game Teammates, Trade Deadline Implications

The day has finally arrived, Jimmy Butler is going to start an All-Star Game. It is much deserved as Butler continues to evolve into one of the very best players in the league. While the game itself is an exhibition, it does bring together some of the best and biggest stars in the league. This year, Jimmy will be starting next to one of the league’s smallest, or at least shortest, stars in Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas.

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It’s hard to take anything away from a game that has almost no defense and doesn’t impact the post-season. Thankfully, we won’t have to wonder if LeBron James is going to play every minute and after the ‘W’ to force Steph Curry and Kevin Durant to play as the road team in the Finals. Not that I think the writing is on the wall and that every other team in the league doesn’t really have a shot at preventing this result.

The biggest story that has been talked about heading into the game has been Russell Westbrook and the Warriors. There might not be any true hatred involved, but Westbrook is definitely not a fan of Durant these days. So when the ASG gets rolling on Sunday night, Westbrook will have to share the court as a teammates with not only Durant, but also Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. It certainly won’t be combustible, but it could be one heck of a freeze out by Westbrook a la Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan in the 1980s. I guess we’ll have to watch and see what happens there.

Speaking of Isiah Thomas, let’s fast forward back to the present and talk a little about Isaiah Thomas. The younger Thomas is currently the starting point guard for the Celtics, just broke John Havlicek’s Boston record for consecutive games with at least 20 points when he did it for the 41st time in row against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night.

Ultimately, that Thursday night game ended with two clutch free throws from Jimmy Butler, giving the Bulls a one-point victory over the visiting Celtics.

In a recent video for The Vertical, Adrian Wojnarowski and Chris Mannix discussed several issues, but led with the story of Butler and Boston. It really is a hot topic right now.

I’ve talked in the past about how the Bulls have several options for trading Butler, but this adds a bit of fun to the ASG that normally wouldn’t be there. This wouldn’t be the first time that players used the All-Star Weekend to try and leverage influence for bringing players to their team.

However, this might be a seldom or even single occurrence of a top player in the league going against a fellow starting All-Star, playing on the same team for the ASG, and then having the potential of being full teammates shortly after. All of that happening within a week would be kind of crazy.

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Boston has seen Butler go at them several times this season and Thursday night will be fresh in their memory. Now, they’ll get to see the two players kick it around, albeit in exhibition form, for the same team. It will be a great opportunity to see what it would look like to have those two players, both player at the peak of their abilities right now, joining forces on the same team.

The trade deadline is incredibly close, just days away, so the timing of this potential foreshadowing of Thomas and Butler joining forces is both unique and fun. And that’s what the All-Star Weekend should be – fun. The only thing most All-Star events fail to deliver, in any sport, is a compelling storyline that keeps the viewer invested in the outcome. Butler and Thomas will give the East team exactly that. I suppose which way you should cheer for this pairing depends on where you want Butler to be playing a week from now.