With Jimmy Butler’s time with the Miami Heat likely ending, the Philadelphia 76ers have an opportunity to facilitate a reunion that could get them to the next level. It’s not like they haven’t had interest in recent months.

Had the NBA offseason played out differently, Jimmy Butler would have been at Barclays Center on Saturday night. The Philadelphia 76ers tried to engage the Miami Heat about a potential trade for Butler over the summer,

After soft-launching a trade request from the Miami Heat last month, Jimmy Butler upped the ante Thursday. Following a postgame press conference in which he said that he wanted to get his “joy back from playing basketball,” ESPN’s Shams Charania and Brian Windhorst reported that Butler “indicated” to the Heat that “he wants the team to trade him.”