The Sixers aren’t the only team that would be willing to give Jimmy Butler a maximum-salary extension if they could acquire him from the Heat. League sources tell Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald that two other clubs have “made it known in league circles” that they’d also be open to trading for the star forward and then signing him to a max deal.
Butler remains under contract with the Heat for 2024/25 and holds a $52.4MM player option for ’25/26. A maximum extension would cover two years, replacing the ’25/26 option with a new $54.3MM starting salary and tacking on an extra year worth $58.6MM for ’26/27.
Heat president Pat Riley was noncommittal when asked earlier this month if the team would offer that deal, pointing out that no decision has to be made yet and hinting that Butler’s history of injury issues would make the front office wary about such a significant investment.
“It’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources, unless you have someone who is going to be available every night,” Riley said at his end-of-season press conference.
The Heat have shown no interest in moving Butler and he has shown no signs that he wants out of Miami — in fact, he has spoken multiple times about wanting to finish his career with the franchise. However, as both Chiang and Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel write, these rumors and leaks – which seem designed to let Butler know he has options if the Heat aren’t willing to give him the kind of deal he wants – could put added pressure on the club to address the 34-year-old’s contract situation sooner rather than later.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Caron Butler, who has been an assistant coach on Erik Spoelstra‘s staff since 2020, has agreed to a new four-year deal to remain in that role, agent Raymond Brothers tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). As Chiang writes for The Miami Herald, Butler spoke last summer about having fallen in love with coaching and aspiring to become a head coach at some point down the road.
- Miami is also working on new contracts for two other top assistants, Chris Quinn and Malik Allen, with Spoelstra having expressed a desire to keep his staff intact, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link). Quinn has been linked to several head coaching openings this spring, but wasn’t hired by Brooklyn or Charlotte and doesn’t appear to be a frontrunner in the Lakers’ or Wizards’ searches.
- In another story for The Miami Herald, Chiang takes a closer look at Caleb Martin‘s free agency, exploring what kind of deal the swingman might be in line for and whether it’s viable for the club to retain him. Martin is expected to turn down his $7.1MM player option for 2024/25 and could receive a salary in the neighborhood of the full mid-level exception ($12.9MM+), Chiang writes. Accommodating that sort of raise would likely push the Heat’s team salary above the second tax apron unless they cut costs elsewhere.
Jimmy Butler
Games played last 3 seasons
57, 64, 60
2 years extension
Real Value $80 million
Market Value $113 million
76ers trade proposal from internets
(my comment: Cavs tank for picks)
( I don’t know who sends 5 first round picks to Cavs and Wizards)
The four teams involved in this mock trade are the Sixers, Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Washington Wizards. In exchange for Butler and Tyler Herro, Miami walks away with Donovan Mitchell and Kyle Kuzma, along with three trade exceptions.
Cleveland walks away with arguably the second-biggest haul, with their return package centered around Tyler Herro. Aside from the young guard, the Cavs also receive three first-round picks and one second-round pick.
As for the Wizards this mock trade allows them to fully embrace a youth movement. They acquire Paul Reed, Nikola Jovic, Ty Jerome, and a pair of first-round picks.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
if Riley wants to extend Butler, it makes zero sense to publicly criticize Butler for not playing in more games. Once you alienate/humiliate Butler publicly, he may not want to come back even if you offer the extension. IMO Riley only does that if he wants to drum up interest and make teams bidding against each other.
Never know the background workings on the NBA, but as much as I know the Sixers would like to get Jimmy back I also feel like they are doing him a solid by going public and giving him more leverage in negotiations.
Hey I don’t care as long as it comes full circle and these agents do us a solid and get their clients to sign with us.
Jimmy fully complements Jojo and Maxey on the court.
Still can’t believe Tobias over Jimmy.
100%, perfect fit, got that alpha leader mentality, two way ability and so on but at the time it wasn’t about Embiid and Maxey it was Simmons and Embiid ….
Ben Simmons over Jimmy. Look at that FA class. So really it was Tobias over Kemba Walker, and Al Horford over Harrison Barnes/Brogdon.
Jimmy wanted to go to Miami, and Brett wanted the ball in Ben’s hands bc he was useless without it, the ROY and future of the team on an 8M deal, which to trade him would have gotten zilch in return as far as a star player bc of salary matching.
It’s way more likely that Butler’s agent is the one leaking all of this in the first place.
Riley threw the first brush back pitch, and this is JB’s counter to it. It’s between MIA and JB. Nothing really to see for any other team, and, frankly, any other team that gets involved in this, directly or indirectly, is foolish. MIA isn’t likely to trade JB this off season regardless, and if they do trade him at any point this year, then it won’t be to a team that plays silly games.
Of course, PHI’s FO (Morey) likes to play silly games, and he likely knows PHI would be the last team MIA would trade JB to in any event. Eastern conference rival with virtually no trade assets that MIA might value. So, perhaps PHI has nothing to lose.