The theory from other executives that Miami would trade Jimmy Butler goes like this: Butler is going to ask for a max extension worth about $113 million (he would give up his player option for 2025-26, locking him in with Miami for three seasons at $161.8 million). Miami looks at the situation — Butler turns 35 before next season and hasn’t played 65 games in a season since coming to the Heat — and says it’s not talking extension until next summer. Butler has a history of making things very uncomfortable for the team with his contract when he’s unhappy.
With that in mind, Heat president and decision maker Pat Riley was asked if the Heat would consider trading Butler this summer.
“No.”
There’s not a lot of room for discussion in that.
Riley spoke to the media for 40 minutes on Monday, and a lot of time was spent on Butler. When asked about the possibility of a contract extension for Butler, he didn’t sound enthusiastic about it.
“We have not discussed that internally right now,” Riley said, via the Associated Press. “We have to look at making that kind of commitment and when do we do it. We don’t have to do it until 2025, actually. But we’ll see. We haven’t made a decision on it, and we haven’t really in earnest discussed it...
“That’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless you have somebody who’s going to be there and available every single night,” Riley said. “That’s the truth.”
Getting guys on the court more was the theme of Riley’s
press conference — the Heat used 37 different starting lineups this season and had 18 different players start games for them. Butler, Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier all missed time last season, making it difficult to evaluate the team and its offense. Bam Adebayo was the only player consistently on the court out of Miami’s core.
However, the press conference found its way back to Butler. This past weekend, at the F1 Grand Prix in Miami, Butler said on Instagram, “If I was playing, Boston would be at home, New York damn sure would... be at home.” Riley was not a fan.
“If you’re not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut on the criticism of those teams,” Riley said.
Historically, Butler doesn’t respond to this kind of thing well. Combine that with Miami going big game hunting for another star this offseason and it looks like a hot summer in Miami.
