Shams: 'Sense' Jimmy Butler Wants to Stay with Heat Amid Contract, NBA Trade Rumors

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium believes that veteran forward Jimmy Butler wants to sign an extension with the Miami Heat.

"My sense is Jimmy Butler does not want to be anywhere but Miami," Charania said on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday. "Sense is that he loves it in Miami. But again, he is extension-eligible this year. There are multiple teams out there that would give him an extension."

Butler is expected to seek a two-year extension worth around $113 million this summer, Anthony Chiang reported in May for the Miami Herald.

Butler is currently signed on for the 2024-25 season at a cap hit of $48.8 million, with a $52.4 million player option for the 2025-26 season.

He averaged 20.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists through 60 games in his fifth season with the Heat in 2023.

An extension would begin in place of the 2025-26 player option, Chiang reported.

The contract Butler is reportedly seeking would give him an increase of about $2 million over the exiting player option, followed by a $58.6 million salary for the 2026-27 season, according to Chiang.

Butler cannot sign a contract that takes him past the 2026-27 season due to the NBA's over-38 rule, Chiang noted. The 2027-28 campaign would mark Butler's age-38 season.

Heat president Pat Riley has previously expressed hesitancy over increasing Butler's salary in part due to the 34-year-old's injury history.

Butler has been limited to 64 or fewer games in each of his five regular seasons with the Heat since his 2019 sign-and-trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. The forward missed 22 games during the 2023-24 campaign due to personal reasons and injuries, then was sidelined with an MCL sprain for the the entirety of the Heat's five-game first-round loss to the Boston Celtics.

"That's a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless you have somebody who's going to be there and available every single night," Riley said in May, per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. "That's the truth."

If the Heat balk at giving Butler the maximum extension, as Charania noted, there are other teams who might consider the deal. Keith Pompey reported last month for the Philadelphia Inquirer that Sixers "are prepared" to offer Butler the maximum should the Heat decide to place the veteran on the trade block this summer.