Last July, when Jimmy Butler signed a five-year, $92.3 million extension, nobody imagined we’d be here, with rumblings of a trade this offseason. He had a breakout year in the 2014-15 season where Butler won the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award and established himself as the team’s best player at both ends of the floor, and now this that his long term future in Chicago is a discussion is ridiculous to me.

This past season went much worse for the Bulls and Butler, the team missed the playoffs and Butler missed a month with a knee injury. At the end of the season the Bulls general manager Gar Forman declared at a season ending press conference that nothing was off the table though. The reality is it would be hard to justify the Bulls pulling the trigger on a Butler trade. They would be trading their best player away.

From just looking at the Bulls I would have to figure that they will be making a few major changes this summer to a roster that has grown old. But why would you trade a  26-year-old All-Star who plays both sides of the ball and is under contract for three more years (plus a player option for a fourth)? That’s not someone you get rid of on your team. If anything you should be building around him and finally giving the keys to the team to Butler.

If somehow the Bulls do try and trade Butler, he is in the class of players that the Bulls will have to command a major package of young players and multiple future picks from a team in return. No matter who he is traded to he is most likely going to be the best player in any deal unless some how the Bulls have some trick up their sleeve and go after someone better than Butler. There aren’t many teams with both the need for a star and the kind of massive trade package the Bulls would want.

The Bulls need to build around Butler and start putting young pieces around him and let him get the Bulls back to the playoffs. Butler is definitely the the type of player that can take over for a team and be a great leader.