In a face-to-face meeting last week, suspended Miami Heat wing Jimmy Butler told team president Pat Riley that he could actually exercise his $52.4 million player option to the 2025-26 season, but only if that facilitates his exit. according to ESPN.
On January 3, the Heat Butler suspended seven games “for multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team throughout the season and particularly in recent weeks,” the team announced. He had formally requested a trade at the time and his team had reportedly made it known that it planned to decline the player option and become a free agent.
Sometimes the threat of leaving in free agency is all the leverage a disgruntled star needs. But for Butler, 35, the situation is more complicated. The Brooklyn Nets are the only team projected to have the cap space to offer him anything close to a max contract this offseason, and they are not on their schedule. If Miami can’t find a trade it likes before the Feb. 6 deadline or a sign-and-trade it likes over the summer, Riley can simply let him go, which would give the team more flexibility:
In this particular set of circumstances, Butler could effectively make his contract with the Heat last. more extensive as a way to leave them before. He knows it would be inconvenient for the Heat to have that $52.4 million on their books, so in this case, the threat of exercising the option could give him some leverage. This isn’t all that different from what James Harden did in the 2023 offseason when he wanted out of Philadelphia; that situation just got much worse later in the process.
There’s a problem here, though: Exercising the option means delaying his next multi-year contract. This is already year 14 for Butler, so it’s risky.
Another problem? It’s not clear that Miami’s lack of urgency is the reason Butler remains on the roster. The Heat have even gone so far as to formally announce that they will listen to trade offers, but, two days before their suspension ends, there is nothing to suggest that the ones they have received have been attractive. If that doesn’t change in the coming weeks, then Butler will almost certainly need Miami to work with him in the offseason, regardless of whether he picks up the option or not. And as long as the Heat believe the trade market will be significantly better in the offseason, why would they make a bad trade now?
