In America, billionaires and NBA superstars usually get what they want in the end. And if Jimmy Butler finds his way to Phoenix before the trade deadline, it will be like Clint Eastwood walking into a Western movie.

It would be good, bad and ugly. Butler is exactly the alpha male the Suns need inside the locker room. He is exactly the kind of teammate that brings out the best in Kevin Durant. He is a basketball assassin, and Butler would deliver all the smoldering intensity and true grit the Suns frequently lack.

It would be terrible for the sport. Butler’s beef with the Heat is the latest chapter in the NBA’s player empowerment movement that prioritizes unwavering loyalty to selfish desires. Butler has blown up the Heat’s season because he knows a lucrative payoff awaits in Phoenix, the kind he might not get anywhere else. He wants a fistful of dollars and everything else is secondary.

Even if Butler and the Suns get over all the obstacles in their path, the deal might fail spectacularly. It might mark the end of an era that began with Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Monty Williams, just as the ill-fated acquisition of Shaq signaled the end of Steve Nash’s reign of dominance. Butler will be 36 in September, and as Charles Barkley sagely warns, old players don’t get better. They just get older and more injury-prone.

The smartest play might be another move around the margins. Like packaging some of the remaining assets for a lengthy wing with a fierce disposition. The Suns seemingly did a great job identifying Nick Richards as a solution to their center problem. They added a pair of promising rookies, including a new crowd favorite in Ryan Dunn. And the team’s brilliant first half against the Clippers shows how high the current group can fly when they’re passionate, locked in, trying hard, playing fast and passing with purpose.

Butler is a different animal. He represents more star power and a potential coup for Mat Ishbia, allowing him to replace the worst contract in the NBA (Bradley Beal) with one of the game’s best playoff performers. Butler would also deliver instant culture. Just like Chris Paul, but even more menacing and hardcore.

Ishbia is a gift to Planet Orange. His willingness to outspend every problem is rare in sports and rare in these parts. He is unmoved by thorny financial complications that accompany high-priced teams, zigging when every other owner is zagging. To wit:

He assembled a Big Three at a time when the model had gone extinct. He’s taken a lot of criticism from experts and trolls alike. And his plan is to replace his current model with a better Big Three.

Other NBA owners don’t want Ishbia to succeed. They don’t want his plan to work because they don’t want to follow suit. They don’t want pressure from their fan bases to spend like the madman in Phoenix. They want rules against guys like Ishbia, and there is even chatter that the Suns’ hyperaggressive maneuvering might spawn more rules change, limiting what a new owner can do in the early stages of his tenure.

So much is on the line in the coming days. I want Butler in Phoenix because I love Butler’s on-court demeanor, and I saw how Booker and Durant shined at the Paris Olympics when they didn’t have to be leaders. But I hate everything this saga represents. And mostly, I want continuity and dependability and a team that’s fun to watch, not an organization that has brought in 26 new players after the acquisition of Durant, perpetually scrambling for pieces that work.

Choose well, Mat. The future depends on it.

Reach Bickley at [email protected]. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.

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