The Miami Heat have been heavily involved in trade rumors this season after extension talks with Jimmy Butler over the offseason fell apart, leading to widespread speculation that Butler’s time with the franchise will come to an end during the 2025 free agency. This has also led to reports suggesting the Heat might trade Butler this season to get assets instead of losing him for nothing.
Bobby Marks and Jeremy Woo of ESPN have shared a new report suggesting that the Heat are waiting for a Godfather offer for Butler’s services and likely won’t trade him for anything less.
“As for Butler’s future, there is a growing consensus among the teams I talked to that unless the six-time All-Star becomes a distraction, or the Heat receive a trade offer they cannot turn down, Butler will be on the Heat’s roster once the deadline passes.”
We have had conflicting reports on the Butler saga in Miami, so I wonder who everyone is sourcing their information from at this point. Earlier ESPN reports with Shams Charania indicated a greater willingness to trade Butler to maximize assets while this report by Marks’ seems to indicate otherwise.
It’s important to know that a team source would be incentivized to say the Heat won’t accept cheap offers to artificially improve the market of any team who has their eyes set on Butler. There are very few teams who can create the space to offer him a max contract in free agency, so the Heat are trying to force a team into paying a big price to land Butler now and secure his bird rights for an extension.
The 35-year-old forward is averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.9 assists this season, with the team slowly moving away from him as the primary offensive option this season, giving Tyler Herro that responsibility. Butler is managing his health and fatigue better through the season in case he has to rebuild market value with a trademark Butler Playoff run.
The Heat are 14-13 this season and currently occupy the No. 6 seed in the West. They have the trajectory of a Playoff team, so they’ll have little reason to trade Butler to potentially take a step back this season unless the offer is rewarding for the team’s long-term health.
The team thinks Butler might pick up his player option, so they could easily trade him next summer if they wanted to, especially if he has a strong Playoff run and inflates his value. If the right offer doesn’t come Miami’s way, they might as well stick with the franchise star who carried them to two NBA Finals appearances.
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