Jimmy Butler could follow Paul GeorgeButler’s footsteps on an increasingly rare path: an All-NBA player becomes a free agent. Butler is eligible for an extension and is set to make $47.8 million next season with a $52.4 million player option for the 2025-26 season. Asked about the extension heading into this summer, Heat president Pat Riley said, “We don’t need to do that for a year. We haven’t discussed it internally at this point, but we have to consider making that kind of commitment.” He said the Heat would not trade Butler this offseason.
If Butler declines his option, he will become a free agent, but in a summer when contenders won’t have the salary cap space to sign him. Which brings us to this interesting note from Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
Butler has reportedly decided to play next season and not extend in Miami before he opts out in 2025. The chances of him picking up his player option are slim unless he first agrees to a max contract with the Heat. The six-time All-Star is the most accomplished player on this roster after James, and he likes Brooklyn, according to sources close to the player.
There are a lot of things that need to happen here:
• The Heat probably won’t give Butler a full cap hit. After last season, Riley expressed frustration with missing players and Butler only played 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 an opportunity for the Heat to change course? Bam Adebayo (who was jailed with a three-year extension, worth $165.8 million)?
• Will Butler and his agent take a hard look at the market and decide to opt for the final year of his $52.4 million contract?
• The Nets will be one of the teams participating in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes (a deep draft with Ace Baily and Dylan Harper among others), Brooklyn is going to struggle this season. The team will have some breathing room next summer, but if the plan is to start building around youth, will the Nets want to spend big money on an aging star? Is that the quick fix they want?
• Once the Heat’s season is over, whenever that may be, they will have an exclusive window to discuss and agree to an extension with Butler. We’ll see where Miami and Butler are after the season, but the window will exist.
• Butler at the Nets It’s not impossible, and Butler may like the idea, but a lot of things have to align for it to happen.