The Miami Heat don’t need to rush to deal star forward Jimmy Butler before the trade deadline in February. In fact, the team may not need to concern itself with making a deal before next summer.
On one hand, Miami is in a bad spot because Butler can opt out of the final year of his $146.4 million contract at the end of this season, in which case the Heat will risk letting a six-time All-Star who has led the organization to two NBA Finals over the past five years walk for nothing in return. That, needless to say, would be catastrophic.
However, Miami has a strong counter-advantage in that there will be essentially no competitors with enough salary cap space to sign Butler outright to the kind of deal he’s going to demand in free agency — save for, perhaps, the Brooklyn Nets.
That means that even if Butler does opt out in June and feels disrespected enough by/tired enough of Miami to desire a change of scenery, his best pathway to a destination of choice that comes with the preferred paycheck will run through a sign-and-trade involving the Heat. In that scenario, Miami pays Butler the deal he wants then offloads it to a team like the Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets for some type of return including both current players and future picks.
In all, these circumstances allow for the Heat to remain choosy when it comes to any trade offers for Butler over the next six weeks or so, which almost certainly means that a deal with the Phoenix Suns involving Bradley Beal is out of the question, per NBA insider Marc Stein.
Bradley Beal Doesn’t Make Sense for Heat, Even in Jimmy Butler Does for Suns
GettyPhoenix Suns star Bradley Beal.
Phoenix is on Butler’s list and, by all accounts, the Suns desire Butler as the third leg of a big three led by Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. But the only way to make the money work on both sides is to flip Beal as part of the return, which is problematic for two reasons.
First, Beal has a no-trade clause — one of only two that currently exist in the NBA, the other belonging to LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers. Second, Beal wanted to go to Miami when he was looking for a trade out of the Washington Wizards organization, and the Heat didn’t go for it then.
The franchise is even less likely to do so now more than a year later, as Beal continues to battle injury issues. Furthermore, even though Beal — a 31-year-old four-time All-Star on a $251 million contract that runs through 2026-27 — remains a talented player capable of putting up nearly 20 points per night, he isn’t going to change Miami’s fortunes back into a championship-caliber team.
So what’s the point?
“The Heat aren’t likely to bite on a deal that doesn’t benefit them in the long run,” Sam Amico of Hoops Wire wrote on Monday, December 23. “So, while Butler’s future remains uncertain, Miami’s patience may very well pay off.”
Warriors Best Bet to Eventually Trade for Jimmy Butler
GettyMiami Heat star Jimmy Butler.
The Warriors are clearly as interested in Butler as the Suns are, so Golden State makes the most sense as an eventual trade partner.
Butler has also mentioned the Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks as teams for which he would like to play. However, Dallas just inked Klay Thompson to a big deal over the summer and made a couple of in-season trades last year to get to the NBA Finals, which would now render any trade for Butler exceedingly difficult.
Houston has the ability to trade for Butler, but the Rockets also have several young players they don’t seem interested in parting ways with just yet. Beyond that, the team is 19-9 and occupying third place in the Western Conference standings a full third of the way into the season, so the timing doesn’t feel great when it comes to messing with a formula that’s already working.
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