MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler remains part of the Miami Heat, for now. De'Aaron Fox is still with the Sacramento Kings, for now. And Golden State coach Steve Kerr seemed to indicate that the Warriors are seriously weighing their options.
It's NBA trade deadline countdown time.
There could be chaos. There might not be much of anything. By Thursday afternoon's deadline, there will be answers — although perhaps not the answers some fans are looking for from their teams.
“We don't have enough to separate ourselves from the rest of the West," Kerr said Friday before Golden State played Phoenix. "The point is, we’re not in a position where we can just say, ‘No, we’re good. Let’s stand pat.’ That's the reality of where we are.”
Butler wants a trade out of Miami and the Heat are trying to accommodate him; Golden State is believed to be one of the places where he'd like to land. Another is Phoenix, a team still looking to move out of the Western Conference's play-in range and secure one of the six guaranteed playoff spots.
“The front office, regardless of your record, is always trying to make your team better, trying to find ways to improve,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said Friday. “They have the same mindset of our team, of our players — we're always trying to get better. I'm happy with the group. We feel like we've got a very good team. Gonna coach them up and if there's any changes, then I think it's going to be made to improve us. I don't really have any idea if anything will happen.”
Fox's future has been a talking point in Sacramento for the last several days, and Kings teammate DeMar DeRozan told FanDuel on Friday that the uncertainty of it all is weighing on his mind.
“Not knowing the future of that, it does make it tougher,” DeRozan said.
This much is certain: San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama is not getting traded by the Spurs before Thursday's deadline.
The Spurs have been mentioned as a possible suitor for Fox, the Sacramento point guard who could be on the move. But the whole notion — trading players — is still something that seems odd to Wembanyama.
“Every team has made trades,” Wembanyama said Friday night after San Antonio downed Milwaukee. “It's still something hard to realize that you can be traded, kind of like an object. It's super weird.”
The Heat left Miami for a four-game road trip on Friday that won't bring them back home until after the trade deadline. Butler wasn't on the trip — he's still serving an indefinite suspension that will last at least three more games — but it remains entirely possible that the names of those players on the flight Friday and the names of players who land in Miami when the trip ends will be different.
“We’ve got all the chaos going on,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said. “But these are the times where we go on the road and get that collective grit and huddle together and depend on one another.”
Kerr said he and Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy speak daily about what's happening. Warriors guard Stephen Curry is still one of the game's best players, and there have been times this season — like a win over Oklahoma City earlier this week — when Golden State shows its potential. There have also been plenty of times when it seems like Curry and the Warriors need help to get back to title contention.
“Mike’s doing his due diligence, doing his job," Kerr said. "If there’s something that makes sense, he’s going to do it. And if not, then I’m very comfortable going forward with this team because I know what we’re capable of and I believe in the guys.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler walks on the court after an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Sacramento Kings' De'Aaron Fox (5) calls out to teammates during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to revive his struggling government but faced growing calls to resign after a disastrous set of local and regional elections for his Labour Party.
As the final results came in Saturday, Labour suffered a net loss of more than 1,100 local council seats across England, lost control of several local authorities it had held for decades and was booted from power in Wales after 27 years. Anti-immigration party Reform UK gained over 1,300 seats across England and made significant gains in legislative elections in Wales and Scotland.
It was a blunt verdict from voters in elections widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led the center-left party to power less than two years ago.
Here are five things we’ve learned from the elections.
Starmer insisted he would not walk away and "plunge the country into chaos,” and the dire election results did not produce an immediate challenge to his leadership.
"The right thing to do is rebuild and show the path forward,” Starmer said Saturday. “That’s what I’m going to do in the coming days.”
Starmer’s Cabinet colleagues expressed support, and none of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers has made a move. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are keeping quiet for now.
But a growing number of Labour lawmakers urged the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure this year. British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.
“There has to be a timetable,” legislator Clive Betts told the BBC. Another lawmaker, Tony Vaughan, said there should be an “orderly transition of leadership.”
Starmer tried to demonstrate change on Saturday by bringing back two figures from past Labour governments. He made former Prime Minister Gordon Brown a special envoy on global finance, and appointed the party's ex-deputy leader Harriet Harman an adviser on women and girls.
Starmer is due to make a speech on Monday in an attempt to regain momentum, before the government sets out its legislative plans on Wednesday in a speech delivered by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.
The elections were a breakthrough for Reform UK, the latest hard-right party led by the veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage.
Running on an anti-establishment and anti-immigration message, the party won hundreds of local council seats in working-class areas in England’s north, such as Sunderland, that were solid Labour turf for decades. It also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like the county of Essex, east of London, and increased its vote share in Wales and Scotland, new terrain for the party.
Farage said the results marked a “historic change in British politics.” He said he's confident that “voters who have come to us are not doing it as a short-term protest.”
Reform UK currently holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons and it’s unclear whether it could repeat its success in a national election.
The elections produced semiautonomous administrations in Scotland and Wales led by parties devoted to independence and the breakup of the United Kingdom — though neither has that policy on the front burner.
The Scottish National Party, which has governed in Edinburgh since 2007, won another term but fell short of a majority, meaning an independence referendum is unlikely. Labour and Reform tied in a distant second place.
Plaid Cymru (The Party of Wales) won the most seats in the Cardiff-based legislature, the Senedd. The party, which has an ambition for Wales to leave the U.K. but no plan to do so anytime soon, fell short of a majority but will likely form the new government. Reform came second and Labour a distant third in one of its most historic heartlands, with outgoing First Minister Eluned Morgan losing her seat.
The economy lies at the heart of Labour’s troubles, as it does for many incumbent governments.
Since ending 14 years of Conservative rule roiled by austerity and the COVID-19 pandemic, Labour has struggled to ease the cost of living and jump-start a sluggish economy against the tough economic backdrop of war in Ukraine and, more recently, Iran. Starmer also has angered supporters with attempts to cut welfare spending, some of which were reversed after Labour revolts.
Some in Labour say the government's achievements, including protections for renters and a higher minimum wage, are going unnoticed. Many blame Starmer, an uninspiring leader distracted by scandals including his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
But Stephen Houghton, the outgoing leader of Barnsley council in northern England, where Labour lost to Reform, said the problem “goes deeper than the prime minister.”
“This has been coming for 30 years around the country, in post-industrial communities, coastal communities, that have been left behind,” he said. “You can change prime ministers all day long. If you don’t change policy, it’s not going to change.”
The results reflect a fragmentation of U.K. politics after decades of domination by Labour and the Conservative Party, which also suffered major losses on Thursday.
The elections offered voters a rainbow of choices, including the centrist Liberal Democrats and the nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales.
But the big winners were populist insurgents, Reform UK and the Green Party, whose focus has expanded from the environment to social justice and the Palestinian cause under self-described “eco populist” leader Zack Polanski. The Greens won hundreds of council seats from Labour in urban centers and university towns and took control of several local authorities.
Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the results suggest the next national election, due by 2029, won’t produce a majority for any party.
“So then you’re in the world of, after the election, two or three big minority parties trying to work out how they would govern,” he said — something traditionally considered “very un-British.”
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking to the media after meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)
First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney with some of the newly elected SNP MSPs in Edinburgh, Saturday May 9, 2026, following the 2026 Holyrood elections. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking to the media after meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)
Observers from the Scottish National Party (SNP) watch as votes are counted for the 2026 Holyrood elections, at Dewars Centre in Perth, Scotland, Friday May 8, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks to supporters at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Friday May 8, 2026, in Essex, England, following the 2026 local election results. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to Labour Party members at Kingsdown Methodist Church Hall, in Ealing, west London, Friday May 8, 2026, a day after the local elections. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
