Jimmy Butler, Heat Divorce Could Get Messy

The star forward is looking for a contract extension that Miami refuses to give, leading to a public trade battle and seven-game suspension.

Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat are no longer a good fit. / Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

On Thursday, Jimmy Butler made it clear he no longer wanted to play for Miami. 

On Friday, the Heat let Butler know the feeling was mutual. 

Miami suspended Butler for seven games on Friday. It might as well have been 70. After a nine-point, 27-minute stink bomb against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday—which followed a nine-point, 25-minute stinker against the New Orleans Pelicans a day earlier—Butler told reporters he had lost his joy for the game. When asked if he could get it back in Miami, Butler replied “probably not.” 

Butler isn’t coming back. Not on Jan. 17, when he is eligible. Not ever. Last week, Heat president Pat Riley declared the team wasn’t trading Butler. On Friday, Miami walked all that back. In a statement announcing the suspension, the team said, “through his actions and statements, [Butler] has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team.” Butler and his representative, Bernie Lee, the latter who spent December trying to humiliate an ESPN reporter for accurately reporting Butler’s issues with Miami, “have indicated that they wish to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”

On Thursday, Butler suggested his diminished role was the source of his dissatisfaction. “I want to hoop,” Butler said. Baloney. This is about money. Butler wants a contract extension. Miami doesn’t want to give it to him. At 35, Butler wants a nine-figure deal that will take him into retirement. The Heat don’t want to be the ones paying it. 

Said a rival team executive, “There isn’t an easier situation to understand than this one.” 

Butler can opt out of his contract after this season. But he doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t want to leave $52 million on the table—the amount the Heat owe Butler in his option year—for free agency. To go where? Brooklyn? The Nets are tearing their team down to the studs. Detroit? The Pistons aren’t there yet. Washington? San Antonio? Which team with the cap room to sign Butler outright is making him an appealing offer?

The best chance Butler has to cash in is with a trade. He is eligible for a two-year extension that could pay him $111 million. He isn’t getting that in Miami, which is building around Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr.—all age 27 or younger. A new team could give him one. Note the teams Butler is reportedly interested in: Phoenix, Golden State, Dallas and Houston. Three of them—the Suns, Warriors and Mavericks—are veteran teams hellbent on keeping their championship windows open. The Rockets are a rising team badly in need of a veteran, fourth-quarter scorer. 

That’s what Butler wants. But what does Riley? The Heat have reportedly been prioritizing cap flexibility. If Butler walks this summer, Miami would be $47 million below the luxury tax, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. That would give them access to tools like the $14 million non-tax midlevel and the $5.1 million biannual exception, with more than $50 million in expiring contracts to trade.

In other words, Riley and the Heat can go shopping. 

Trading Butler is complicated. The new NBA rules make dealing a player with a salary as large as Butler’s ($49 million this season) difficult. To move Butler, Miami could be forced to take on long-term salary. And nothing the Heat have done lately suggests they are willing to do that. 

This could get messy. Butler and the National Basketball Players Association intend to file a grievance disputing the suspension, but that is about money—the seven games will cost Butler $2.35 million in salary—and won’t be resolved until long after it’s over. Miami can tell Butler to stay home after the suspension, but there’s only so long it can play that card before the league office starts grumbling. The Heat may be forced to offload him for something before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. 

The end for Butler and the Heat isn’t surprising—a war between Butler and Riley has been brewing for months. But it is disappointing. Miami won’t win a title in the Butler era. But they did make two NBA Finals in five seasons, including an improbable run as a No. 8 seed in 2023. For a long time the tough-minded Butler fit into the Heat’s win-at-all-cost culture. Team and player were so compatible. Until they weren’t.

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed