The Miami Heat are looking at their future books when making a decision on Jimmy Butler’s future and any potential trade, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“The Heat are looking at their future books as they’re making decisions on this stuff,” Bontemps said. “And looking at the potential of being in the tax, and in the repeater tax, and in the second apron and dealing with the draft pick stuff that comes with that. So, if you’re taking on $110 million of future Bradley Beal money, you better be getting a heck of a deal.”
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst also chimed in, sharing that he believes the Heat would rather have Butler over Beal – the Phoenix Suns star – if they’re going to have to pay $110 million anyway.
“Frankly, quite frankly, I’m just going to brass tax right here,” Windhorst said. “If the Heat were picking who to pay $110 million for the next couple years – next two years – I think they would just extend Jimmy.”
It’s been reported that the Heat intend to keep Butler unless a trade offer meets a certain threshold, but there is also a chance that Butler could leave the franchise in the offseason.
The six-time All-Star has a player option for the 2025-26 season that he reportedly intends to decline.
If Butler does decline the option, he’d be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.
The Heat could still potentially sign-and-trade him somewhere or bring him back to Miami if that happens, but they also run the risk of losing him for nothing if he signs with a team that has the cap space to absorb a deal without a sign-and-trade.
It’s been reported that the Heat aren’t concerned about losing the star in free agency, but it’s still possible that could happen.
This season, Butler has appeared in 18 games for the Heat and is averaging 18.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 55.0 percent from the field and 36.0 percent from 3. It seems like Miami won’t just trade Butler for the sake of trading him, and it has moved into the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference thanks to a four-game winning streak.
Since Butler has already led the Heat to the NBA Finals twice in his tenure with the franchise, Miami may want to hold onto him to see if he can do it again in the 2024-25 season, especially if Miami is in the mix for one of the top seeds in the conference.
