Jimmy Butler is getting ready for the Miami Heat’s 2024–2025 NBA season, but he’s also considering free agency should he want to opt out of his contract in the summer. Butler “likes” the Brooklyn Nets and is willing to shop elsewhere until the Heat offer him a max contract in advance, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Since the conclusion of the previous season, Butler and the Heat have been at war over his contract status. Reporters were informed by Heat President Pat Riley in May that the team had not yet talked about an extension. “We have to look at making that kind of commitment and when do we do it,” Riley stated. In actuality, we are exempt from doing it until 2025. However, we’ll
Riley also retaliated to Butler’s assertion that, had he been able to play, the Heat would have defeated the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks in the postseason. “I thought, ‘Is that Jimmy trolling or is that Jimmy serious?'” stated Riley. “You should hold your tongue when criticising Boston or the New York Knicks if you’re not on the court competing against those teams.”
With a damaged MCL, Butler was out for all five games of Miami’s first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. On June 26, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium revealed that Butler had made the decision to finish out his current contract rather than sign a contract extension with them—or with another team, should he be traded—before he could opt out after the following season. Since July 7, Butler has been qualified to sign a two-year contract extension with the Heat worth up to $112.9 million.
Mikal Bridges was traded to the New York Knicks earlier this summer, and the Nets also struck a separate deal with the Houston Rockets to begin their rebuilding process. In addition to an unprotected selection swap from the Knicks in 2028, those two transactions gave the Nets six unprotected future first-round draft picks between 2025 and 2031. In what currently appears to be a very promising 2025 draft, they may have as many as four first-round selections.
