The Sacramento Kings have told their veteran small forward Caron Butler that they are going to trade him after Christmas to fulfill their promise of providing for him a much larger role within a basketball team whether he is with them or not.

ESPN's Marc Stein published the report, saying that "the Kings plan to move Butler shortly after Christmas" as the 35-year-old NBA journeyman "has found minutes hard to come by in the Kings' frontcourt".

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It seems like a mutual agreement between the two parties as Butler, a native of Racine, Wisconsin, is reportedly going to be dealt to his hometown squad, the Milwaukee Bucks, although the details of the trade were not yet released.

Bleacher Report noted that "while the Milwaukee Bucks have plenty of young talent on the perimeter in the form of Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo, they could stand to add a veteran like Butler", who actually already had a short stint for the team in 2013-2014.

He played 34 games, starting 13, for the Bucks that season, and has averaged 11.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists before his contract was bought out by Milwaukee in February 2014. Three days later, he was then signed by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Bucks were said to be also interested in Butler as the team is in dire need of veteran leadership after the departures of Zaza Pachulia to the Mavericks and Jared Dudley to the Washington Wizards last offseason.

Butler has only played eight games so far for Sacramento, playing 10.0 minutes per game as he had trouble finding playing time with a deep wing lineup composed of Rudy Gay, Omri Casspi, Ben McLemore, and Marco Belinelli.

Butler is currently averaging 2.5 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.3 assists, all career-lows. He is also in the final year of his two-year, $3 million contract with the Kings that will make him an unrestricted free agent in July of next year.

TagsNBA Trade Rumors, NBA trade rumors 2015, NBA rumors, NBA Rumors 2015, NBA News & Rumors, NBA News & Rumors 2015, Milwaukee Bucks trade rumors, Milwaukee Bucks rumors, sacramento kings, Caron Butler