Should Suns even want Jimmy Butler trade? It's a complicated question

Phoenix needs to think about its future, not its present

Last May, Mat Ishbia delivered perhaps the boldest quote an NBA owner has given since Joe Lacob's infamous "lightyears ahead" gaffe. "Ask the other 29 GMs -- 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our draft picks and everything as is," Ishbia said during a press conference following the first-round sweep his Phoenix Suns suffered at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves. "The house is not on fire. We're in great position. It's not hard to fix."

What Ishbia has found in the eight months since is that it is, in fact, hard to fix. At 22-21, the Suns are, once again, outside of the championship picture. Ishbia's preferred solution to that uncomfortable reality is seemingly a Jimmy Butler trade. Do you want to talk about a move being hard? Let's go through all of the obstacles the Suns have already had to overcome and are still facing them in this endeavor: