The Heat Owe Jimmy Butler a Contender. Can They Afford It?

When Jimmy Butler joined the Heat in 2019, the franchise was in no-man’s land. The dreaded middle. Lost in the woods.

However you want to describe it, Miami had very little direction before Butler joined the team. From 2015 to ’19, the Heat alternated seasons in and out of the playoffs. Dwyane Wade left and came back. Big contracts were handed out to Hassan Whiteside, Dion Waiters and others. The team never quite threatened in the playoffs and never bottomed out, either.

Butler rather miraculously landed in the Heat’s lap four summers ago, thanks in part to mismanagement by Philadelphia and his own relationship with Wade. Since then, Miami has been one of the most successful teams in the league. During Butler’s tenure, the Heat have led the NBA in both playoff wins and Finals appearances. Though not quite in the uppermost stratosphere of superstars, Butler has gone toe to toe with some of the greats over the last few years, including LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid.

All of this is to say Butler has delivered everything the Heat could have asked for and has exceeded even the wildest expectations since becoming The Man in Miami. Now, after a second Finals loss in the last four years, the Heat are entering an offseason perhaps as pivotal as the one that got them Butler. Will they be able to find Butler his missing piece?

Butler, of course, hasn’t done this alone. In concert with Bam Adebayo, Miami has one of the more formidable duos in the league. While maybe not quite at Jamal Murray–Nikola Jokić level, Jimmy and Bam have achieved as much if not more consistent success than starrier tandems such as LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Embiid and James Harden, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Butler and Adebayo have proved they must be taken seriously come playoff time, and with those two players, the Heat have the pillars of a possible champion.

In a normal summer, the Heat would be going out and looking for the right third piece to complement their two best players. Damian Lillard has already floated Miami as a possible destination if he were to ever ask out of Portland. Miami reportedly made an offer to Brooklyn for Kyrie Irving at the deadline. There’s new management in Washington, and thus a chance Bradley Beal could become available.

Acquiring that type of player is always easier said than done, but at the very least the Heat would be in the mix. When Wade was Miami’s star, Pat Riley landed him Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron, recognizing the need to go all in.

Butler deserves the same, especially after he put an eight-seed on his back all the way to the championship round, even as his ankle looked more gimpy as the playoffs endured. The issue is the new CBA and Miami’s ballooning payroll.

The Heat have over $170 million committed to only nine players for next season. If they fill the roster out with their first-round pick and minimum players, that already puts the total salary above the second tax apron, which would not only cost owner Micky Arison a hefty amount of money, it would also restrict the moves the Heat can make on the margins of the roster. And that calculation doesn’t even include Gabe Vincent and Max Strus, important pieces who started in every postseason game they played in. Even if Miami were to bring them back on team-friendly deals (i.e., underpay them), the luxury tax bill would skyrocket.

This puts the front office in what will be a telling bind. Does Riley believe in this team as a contender? Because the Heat have been willing to pay the tax before when that’s been the case. Miami theoretically can bring Strus and Vincent back and wheel and deal around Butler and Bam, tax be damned. Or the Heat can try to duck under the second apron and make more subtle moves, but that could mean moving a piece like Tyler Herro or Kyle Lowry in a trade that’s at best salary-dump adjacent.

This summer will be revealing for the Heat. It will be difficult (though not impossible) for the front office to pull off a half measure. Miami will either spend what it takes to buttress around Butler and Bam, or it will try to tread water with a series of salary-motivated moves. Considering where this team was before Butler—turning 34 this September—willed his way to Miami, it may be time for the front office to put their money where their star is.