Jimmy Butler's Agent Reportedly Promised Heat He 'Would Never Complain' About Contract
Jimmy Butler reportedly pulled a bit of a 180-degree turn on the Miami Heat last season—or at least his agent did—when he demanded a trade during his extension stand-off with the team.
According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, "A Heat source said Butler's agent, Bernie Lee, promised Miami that Butler would comport himself well last season and would never complain about not getting a contract extension. That proved to be untrue, leaving the Heat without any bargaining position at the trade deadline. In retrospect, the Heat should have sought that assurance directly from Butler last July."
The Heat certainly could have avoided some headaches had they dealt Butler before last season, given the ordeal he whipped up, though it's unclear if they would have generated much more in a trade package.
Per Jackson's report, a team source said the Heat didn't have any indication they could have beaten the package they received from the Golden State Warriors (Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell and a 2025 first-round pick) had they dealt him in the summer instead. Multiple first-round picks reportedly weren't on the table for Butler.
Jackson wrote that, "As one Western Conference source said, for all of Butler's greatness, he's an acquired taste with a limited market."
Still, the chance to move on earlier might have salvaged what ultimately became something of a lost season, with a major chunk of it held hostage by Butler's very-public attempts to get traded. While the Heat ultimately reached the postseason through the Play-In Tournament, it's hard to view a 37-win regular season and a first-round sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers as a success of any kind.
The Heat didn't move the needle much this offseason, though adding Norman Powell to a core group of Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Andrew Wiggins was solid. Still, the Heat continue to look like a team that will be fighting to reach the Play-In Tournament, and very much not like a contender. The aftermath of the Butler kerfuffle has ultimately exposed an underlying truth in Miami—at some point, the Heat are going to need to shake things up in a major way.
