Miami Heat wing Jimmy Butler tried to tough it out after suffering a knee injury during the NBA Play-In Tournament.
It just wasn’t to be. Butler had to sit out the Heat’s entire first-round NBA Playoff series against the mighty Boston Celtics. The series came to a conclusion in Boston blowing Miami out during Game 5 on Wednesday.
This ended what was a problematic season for the Heat. Butler struggled with injury. Young players outside of Jaime Jaquez Jr. failed to step it up. Tyler Herro struggled big time with Butler sidelined. Bam Adebayo seemed to max out after ascending the ranks of the Association’s best bigs over the past few seasons.
It culminated in Miami having to make it out of the play-in tournament one year after a surprise trip to the NBA Finals. There are now some renewed concerns about Butler’s own future in South Beach.
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Jimmy Butler to demand max contract from Miami Heat this summer
Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald just recently posted a post-mortem on Miami’s season with a look ahead to the summer.
Emedded within the extensive piece was a note that Butler is going to demand a max contract from the Heat once the offseason gets going.
“Jimmy Butler, who turns 35 on Sept. 14, is expected to seek a maximum two-year contract extension worth about $113 million from the Heat this offseason,” report on Butler contract demands from the Heat. “This two-year max extension would include salaries of $54.3 million for the 2025-26 season (nearly a $2 million increase from the player option in Butler’s current contract for that season) and $58.6 million for the 2026-2027 season.”
Butler is currently playing under a three-year, $146.40 million extension he signed with Miami back in August of 2021. He’s currently set to make $48.80 million next season and has a player option of $52.41 million in 2025-26.
Entering the twilight of his career, it makes sense for Butler to seek out that final long-term contract. At issue here is his age and injury concerns. Butler also saw a downtick in production this past season.
| Year | Games | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | FG% | PER |
| 2022-23 | 64 | 22.9 | 5.9 | 5.3 | 1.8 | .539 | 27.6 |
| 2023-24 | 60 | 20.8 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 1.3 | .499 | 22.0 |
At question here is Miami’s belief that Butler can be a major part in the team’s hopes to contend for an NBA title. That had not even been in question before. But with the future Hall of Famer set to turn 35 ahead of next season and the Heat’s overall roster issues; it could become a point of contention this summer.
“The expectation is Butler and his camp will push for that extension before the start of the upcoming season. Choosing not to offer this exact extension this offseason could lead to a disgruntled Butler,” Chiang noted.
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