Jimmy Butler has not asked to be traded, and the Heat is not aggressively shopping him.
But Miami is now open to listening to offers on Butler and trading him for an offer it deems appealing enough, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday.
The Heat, which sometimes publicly denies trade reports, declined to comment on the ESPN report.
Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, also declined to comment.
The Charania report said Lee “has indicated in league circles that Butler is open to destinations such as…Houston and Dallas and the Golden State Warriors…. Above all, though, he is believed to prefer a win-now title contender in any trade.”
Butler, who’s earning $48.7 million this season, has a player option for $52.4 million next season. After the Heat declined to quickly give him a max extension last summer, Butler decided to play this season out and become a free agent next summer. That remains his intention, according to a source. According to ESPN, “teams have also been informed that Butler intends to opt out of his deal in the offseason and become a free agent.”
Nevertheless, a source with direct knowledge has said the Heat is not concerned about the possibility of losing Butler in free agency if it comes to that, partly because there’s no contender with the cap space to sign Butler outright without the Heat’s help in a sign-and-trade. If Butler simply signed elsewhere next summer without the Heat’s help, Miami would have modest cap space, not nearly enough to replace him with a similar player.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was not asked specifically about the Butler report but was asked what he tells his team when reports like this surface.
“I didn’t mention it,” he said. “I think the biggest message is we’re 3-0 the past week and the player that was rumored in so many trades and speculations the last three years [Tyler Herro], that player is still here and [Eastern Conference] Player of the Week. That’s the only thing I’m thinking about.. Anything else, any other narrative, I don’t care. Nobody should because most of this stuff has been all like gibberish.”
During this past offseason, the Heat reportedly received Butler inquiries from Golden State, Brooklyn and New York but declined to pursue conversations with any of those teams.
The Heat went into this season respecting Boston’s standing atop the East but believing it could compete with anybody in the conference and eager to see a healthy roster with Butler at the epicenter. But Heat officials also entered open-minded to making major changes, including trading Butler, before the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline, if the team didn’t perform up to internal expectations.
So far, the season has been neither a rousing success nor a disaster, with Miami standing at 12-10 after winning three in a row.
Butler has averaged 19 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 55.7 percent from the field this season. He has played in 17 of the Heat’s first 22 games, missing four because of a sprained right ankle and one because of right knee soreness.
At 35, Butler remains the driving force behind much of the Heat’s success. He leads the Heat in most advanced metrics this season, including estimated plus/minus, win shares and box plus/minus.
The Heat is 7-2 when Butler records a usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) of more than 20 percent and holds a 3-5 record when his usage rate doesn’t cross 20 percent in games that he has played in this season.
If the Heat trades Butler, it would take a unique set of circumstances with any trade partner. Miami would need a win-now team that views him as a missing piece, a franchise that would be confident that it could re-sign him if he opts out in June and a team that has appealing, commensurate salary to trade back to Miami.
Keep in mind that as a team above the first apron team, the Heat is unable to take back more money than it trades out. Butler is making $48.8 million this season.
A team also likely would need tradeable first-round picks to entice the Heat, which philosophically has never been interested in trading a marquee player for a package of players and draft picks. (Shaquille O’Neal asked out when he was dealt to Phoenix in 2008.)
Among teams that theoretically could have a need or interest in Butler, the Warriors have three tradeable first-round picks, Houston has five, while Dallas and the Lakers have two. The 76ers have four, but that’s an unlikely fit.
Oklahoma City, which hasn’t been linked to any veteran stars in trade talks, has 10 tradeable first-rounders. Denver has no tradeable first-round picks.
One complication with Golden State and several contenders in any Butler scenario: Like the Heat, the Warriors would not be able to take back more money than it sends out in a trade.
That’s also the case for Denver, Philadelphia, Dallas and the Lakers. All four of those teams, and the Warriors, are above the $178 million first apron just like the Heat is; teams over the first or second apron cannot take back more money than they send out.
So unless a third team with cap space is involved, that makes trades difficult between two first-apron teams.
Phoenix is over the second apron, making a trade even more difficult, because second-apron teams not only cannot take back more money in a trade, but they also cannot trade multiple players for one player.
New York no longer would have the need (or draft inventory) for Butler after trading five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges in June.
A deal with Houston — a geographic area where Butler grew up — likely would need to include either guard Fred Van Vleet (due $42.9 million this season with a $44.9 million player option next season) or guard Dillon Brooks, who is due $22.3 million this season, with salaries of $21.1 million and $19.9 million the next two seasons.
If Brooks and multiple first-round picks are the centerpiece of any Houston offer, the Rockets would need to include additional players to make the math work, including a couple of their young players and perhaps Steven Adams’ $12.6 million expiring contract.
With Golden State, any trade likely would include at least one of the Warriors’ three available first-round picks and a package including impending restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga and guard Andrew Wiggins (more salary would be needed than those two) or a package of Wiggins, picks and other players.
Kuminga, who is reportedly seeking a new contract worth more than $30 million annually, recently moved back into the Warriors’ starting lineup and is averaging 15.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and shooting 44.8 percent from the field but just 30.8 percent on threes.
In his career, Kuminga has played 30 minutes or more in 41 games, averaging 20 points, 54 percent shooting and 40 percent on threes in those games.
Wiggins, 29, is earning $26.3 million this season and due to make $28.2 million next season, with a $30.2 million player option in 2026-27.
A 6-7 wing, Wiggins is averaging 17.2 points and shooting 42.7 percent on threes.
A Dallas trade would be more unrealistic; the Mavericks’ top and highest-paid assets, after off-limits Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, are guard Klay Thompson and forward P.J. Washington.
Trading Butler wouldn’t be as easy as dealing some other superstars not because of his ability, but because of his impending player option, age (35) and the trade limitations and complications created by the new labor agreement.
The Heat could still opt to move ahead with Butler through the trade deadline and weigh whether to give him a new contract next June.
One thing is certain: If Butler opts into his $52.8 million salary for next season (unlikely) or re-signs with the Heat for a similar amount, Miami would need to cut payroll by April of next season to avoid triggering a highly punitive repeater tax in 2026-27.
If Butler were to opt in (or re-sign with the same $52.8 million salary), Miami would have $191 million in cap commitments for just 11 players next season, about $3 million above the tax line. That would be an untenable situation for Miami because it would mark the third time in four years that the Heat would be over the tax, which triggers the onerous repeater tax.
To avoid that situation, Miami needs to trim payroll in the next 16 months — whether it’s a major trade involving Butler or dealing Duncan Robinson or Terry Rozier to a team with the cap space to absorb their salaries and sending Miami less money back. Robinson and Rozier will be free agents after next season.
NEWS NOTE
Forwards Pelle Larson (ankle) and Josh Richardson (heel) missed practice. Forward Nikola Jovic left practice early because he’s feeling sick.
The Heat’s next game is Thursday against the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center.
Miami Herald
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Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.