One word to appropriately describe the Miami Heat's activity over the summer is 'confusing'. This could very well turn out to be Jimmy Butler's last season with the franchise and yet, there does not seem to be any urgency to push for a Championship, having come up short in two NBA Finals since the turn of the decade.
Butler has been the face of the franchise since moving to Miami in 2019. But he was not handed an extension by the organization this season.
He has a player option for the 2025-26 season and he would become a free agent next summer if he decides to opt out, which one would expect him to if an extension has not been agreed upon with the Heat by that point.
Of course, it is possible that the Heat have given up on hopes of winning a Championship with Butler and are already focusing on the Bam Adebayo timeline, having handed him a monster extension this summer. One cannot overlook the comments made by Pat Riley about Butler after the Heat's playoff elimination last season. Is there some friction between the two? Could there be in the future? According to Alder Almo on Heavy, Yahoo Sports' Tom Haberstroh said on "The Kevin O'Connor Show": "Jimmy Butler is one of those larger-than-life personalities that can be great … [and then] gets really tiring, and people start to tune him out." Some of Haberstroh's comments will worry Heat fans, as he said: "He is a dude that is going to walk into every locker room, and you're going to feel him every single time.
"And so I think when you talk about Jimmy Butler and what the Miami Heat could get for him, I do think that you might have this, get this game of chicken between Jimmy Butler and [team president] Pat Riley, two of the most proud personalities, large personalities. … I do feel like Pat Riley and Jimmy Butler, if they're not right, it's gonna be ugly fast."
It would be safe to say that Butler has established himself as a franchise legend over his time in Miami and most Heat fans would like to see them lift a Championship with the 35-year-old. Basketball is not always that straightforward though.
There are a number of contenders around the league at the moment and there is some sense in the Heat trying to time their Championship push rather than making win-now moves in hopes of winning one with Butler.
