As Jimmy Butler’s suspension from the Miami Warmth attracts to an in depth, his outdoors choices seem like dwindling.
Veteran NBA author Marc Stein reported to Substack on Sunday that one rumored suitor doesn’t plan to pursue the Warmth star Butler in free company this offseason — the Brooklyn Nets. Stein additionally notes that the Nets “will not be locked into the concept” of buying and selling for a celebrity this offseason both.
That issues rather a lot for Butler as a result of he loses main leverage over the Warmth right here in his efforts to pressure a commerce forward of the Feb. 6 deadline. Butler has been said to be interested in playing for Brooklyn, and the Nets are one of many treasured few groups within the league with the power to probably prolong Butler a max contract supply this summer time.
With the Nets now seemingly out of the combo, the specter of Butler leaving the Warmth in free company for nothing might be now not there. That implies that Miami doesn’t have to panic-trade him proper now for 70 cents on the greenback and may maintain onto him via the offseason.
They’ll look forward to Butler to choose up his $52.4M participant possibility and return to the drafting board for a sign-and-trade that will return extra belongings for them then than it could now (since Butler would have a full yr left on his contract with a brand new workforce as an alternative of only a few months).
In fact, the six-time All-Star Butler can all the time throw a wrench into Miami’s plans by taking a reduction as a free agent and leaving anyway. However contemplating that he’s now 35 years previous and that cash was a central reason why his relationship with the Heat broke down within the first place, that looks as if an unlikely final result at this level.
