What would a Jimmy Butler extension look like and what does it mean for the Heat?
The final part of a three-part series addressing important offseason questions facing the Miami Heat, with the NBA Draft set for Thursday and free agency opening Monday.
Beyond the draft and free agency questions the Miami Heat must answer in the coming days and months, the Heat will also need to address Jimmy Butler’s future with the team this summer.
Although Butler is one of five players from the Heat’s season-ending roster who have guaranteed salaries for 2021-22 and is under contract through 2022-23, he’s eligible for an extension this offseason.
Butler, who turns 32 on Sept. 14, will seek a maximum four-year extension that’s expected to be worth about $181 million from the Heat, and there’s optimism that a new contract will be agreed upon when he becomes eligible to sign the deal starting on Aug. 6, according to a league source.
The four-year, $141 million contract that Butler signed to join the Heat during free agency in 2019 includes a guaranteed $36 million salary for next season and a $37.7 million player option in 2022-23. An extension would replace his 2022-23 option and begin that season.
A four-year max extension would include salaries of $40.5 million for 2022-23 (nearly a $3 million increase from the player option in Butler’s current contract for 2022-23), $43.8 million for 2023-24, $47 million for 2024-25 and $50.3 million for 2025-26 when he will be 36 years old, according to a breakdown from ESPN analyst and former Nets executive Bobby Marks.
The Heat’s window to sign Butler to an extension closes on Oct. 18 if the team adds three more seasons to his contract and closes on June 30 if the extension is for four seasons, according to Marks.
When asked in early June about the possibility of signing Butler to a four-year max extension this offseason, Heat president Pat Riley was noncommittal but said: “Somewhere along the line, you know when you have great players, All-NBA players, All-Defensive players, players like Jimmy that are high level and very impactful players for you that you’re going to have to pay them what their market value is. We haven’t really discussed that internally yet. But I know that’s something that has been out there, in the media, but it has not been discussed. And I’m sure that when the time comes, we’ll have a good conversation with Jimmy about that.”
A four-year max extension would align with the one Heat center Bam Adebayo signed last offseason, as both contracts would end in 2025-26. Adebayo’s five-year, $163 million max contract extension is set to pay him $37.1 million in 2025-26, when Butler’s salary will be $50.3 million if he received the max.
While Butler’s extension would not impact the Heat’s salary cap situation this offseason because the new deal would not begin until 2022-23, there are future cap implications to consider. If the Heat hypothetically signs guard Kyle Lowry to a three-year, $90 million deal in free agency this offseason, the Heat could have three players making more than $30 million in in 2023-24 in Adebayo, Butler and Lowry.
One veteran who recently signed a max extension in his 30s is Paul George, who was 30 when he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers last offseason.
Butler is coming off of arguably the best regular season of his NBA career, averaging 21.5 points on a career-best 49.7 percent shooting and career highs in rebounds (6.9), assists (7.1) and steals (2.1). And he was an essential part of Miami’s winning formula, as the Heat finished the regular season with a 7-13 record in games that Butler missed and a 33-19 record when he played.
In the playoffs, Butler averaged 14.5 points on 29.7 percent shooting to go with 7.5 rebounds and seven assists in four games. The Heat was swept out of the first round by the eventual NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks.
Butler, who led the Heat to the NBA Finals in his first season with the organization in 2019-20, was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team and All-NBA Third Team for this past season.
Butler has played for four different teams in his 10 NBA seasons. But a max extension or anything close to it could keep him in Miami for the rest of his NBA career.
[Part one: How is Heat preparing for NBA Draft without a pick?]
[Part two: Will the Heat operate as room or over-the-cap team in free agency?]
This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 11:23 AM.
