Jimmy Butler can follow in Paul George’s footsteps down an increasingly rare path — an All-NBA-level player hitting free agency. Butler is eligible for an extension and is set to make $47.8 million this coming season with a $52.4 million player option for the 2025-26 season. When asked about that extension heading into this summer, Heat president Pat Riley said, “We don’t have to do that for a year. We haven’t discussed that internally right now but we have to look at making that kind of commitment.” He said the Heat did not trade Butler this offseason.
If Butler declines his option, he will become a free agent, but in the summer, when the contenders won’t have cap space to sign him. Which brings us to this interesting note from Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
Butler has reportedly decided he will play next season and not extend in Miami before his opt-out in 2025. The odds of him picking up his player option are slim, unless he agrees to a max deal with the Heat beforehand. The six-time All-Star is the most accomplished standout on that list not named James, and he likes Brooklyn, according to sources close to the player.
There are many things that need to happen here:
• The Heat aren’t likely to give Butler a max. After last season Riley expressed frustration with players missing time and Butler played in only 60 games and missed the Heat’s first round playoff loss to the Heat. Riley will want to see how much Butler is on the court this season before throwing a massive number at him. Or does Riley see this as time for the Heat to pivot around Bam Adebayo (who was locked in with a three-year, $165.8 million extension)?
• Will Butler and his agent look at the market and decide to opt out of the final year of his $52.4 million contract?
• The Nets will be one of the teams in the Cooper Flagg spot lottery (a deep draft with Ace Baily and Dylan Harper among others), Brooklyn will struggle this season. The team will have cap space next summer, but if the plan is to start building around youth, will the Nets be willing to spend big money on an aging star? Is that the quick fix they want?
• Once the Heat season ends, whenever that is, they will have an exclusive window to talk and agree to an extension with Butler. We’ll see where Miami and Butler are after the season, but the window will exist.
• Butler to the Nets isn’t impossible, and Butler might like the idea, but a lot of things have to align for that to happen.
