Heat Looking To Take Back ‘Smallest Possible Amount of Guaranteed Money’ In Jimmy Butler Trade

The Miami Heat want to trade Jimmy Butler. That much we know. After all, they said so themselves.

But what are they looking to take back in a Butler deal. Well, not a whole lot in terms of money, wrote Hall of Famer Marc Stein of The Stein Line. That can make a trade difficult (along with multiple other roadblocks).

Per Stein, the Heat “are known to be seeking a trade that requires them to take back the smallest possible amount of guaranteed money beyond this season, which is among the reasons that there has been no short of pessimism in circulation about a deal materializing quickly.”

Butler, 35, requested a trade, the Heat have said they’re listening to offers, and how this ends before the Feb. 6 deadline is truly anyone’s guess. That’s just the way these things so often go.

Stein also repeated what others have written and said — and that’s that a Butler deal will indeed be complicated.

“With Golden State now said to be backing off an expected run at a Butler trade, per a report from The Athletic‘s Anthony Slater, Marcus Thompson II and Sam Amick, pinpointing potential destinations for the suspended Heat star has only gotten more challenging,” Stein wrote.

Along with all that, Butler’s contract situation has been a ticking time bomb. He’s due $48.8 million this season, with a $52.4 million player option for 2025-26, which he plans to decline and enter free agency.

This means the Heat risk losing him for nothing if they don’t move him before the summer. It’s a tough spot for a franchise that isn’t known for folding under star demands.