Not long ago, contract negotiations often tended to be simple for NBA stars. A star would ask his team for the most amount of money it was legally allowed to offer, the team would acquiesce, and both would go along their merry way.
The NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, which features punishing restrictions for teams with expensive payrolls, appears to have altered that team-building meta. Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler is the latest star to learn that lesson the hard way, but he likely won't be the last.
Butler wanted the Heat to give him a two-year, $113 million max extension this past offseason, according to multiple reports. However, team president Pat Riley demurred, citing the number of games that Butler has routinely missed during his time in Miami.
The cold war between Butler and the Heat has escalated recently. In mid-December, word trickled out that Butler would be open to a trade. On Christmas Day, ESPN's Shams Charania reported he would "prefer" being moved ahead of the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline. And on Thursday, Charania and ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that Butler had told the Heat that he "wants the team to trade him."
The Heat fired back Friday, handing Butler a seven-game suspension for "multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team." One week after Riley declared that he wouldn't be moving Butler by the trade deadline, the Heat pulled an about-face and said they would now listen to offers.
According to Anthony Slater, Marcus Thompson II and Sam Amick of The Athletic, "the root of Butler's rift with the Heat is all related to his next contract." However, he may soon discover that the Heat aren't the only team balking at his reported asking price.
Butler is hoping to get moved before the Feb. 6 trade deadline because the free-agent landscape projects to be bleak this offseason. The Brooklyn Nets are the only team currently poised to have enough cap space to offer a max contract to a free agent. That could change over the next few weeks, but it also might not.
Rumors about Butler and the Nets have been floating around since the offseason, although it seems more like a leverage play than genuine interest. It's tough to imagine the 35-year-old wanting to play out the twilight of his career on a rebuilding Nets team. Besides, why the Nets would want to spend their financial flexibility on someone who won't factor into their long-term plans?
The Heat could try to sign-and-trade Butler this offseason, although that might be complicated as well. Teams over the first apron can't acquire players via sign-and-trade, which would immediately rule out a number of potential landing spots. The Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers are already projected to be over the first apron in 2025-26, and the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers aren't far below it.
Butler's cleanest path to his next team would be a trade by the Feb. 6 deadline. His new team would inherit his Bird rights, which would allow them to re-sign him to anything up to a max contract even if they're already over the salary cap. Rather than allowing him to test free agency, his new team could sign him to a two-year extension worth up to roughly $111 million instead.
However, interest in Butler may be more tepid than expected for someone with his playoff resume. Even though he helped guide the Heat to the NBA Finals twice over the past half-decade, the Golden State Warriors "are not currently seen as a viable option, and there have been no substantive talks or traction to get any type of deal done," according to Slater, Thompson and Amick.
The Rockets were on Butler's original list of preferred destinations, but they've telegraphed that they don't plan on swinging a blockbuster move by the trade deadline. Longtime NBA insider Marc Stein reported the Suns are "widely regarded as the team most interested in trading for Butler," except the Heat have no interest in taking back Bradley Beal. That makes Phoenix a long shot as well, unless it can find a third team to take on Beal's albatross contract (and get him to waive his no-trade clause, too).
Why aren't more teams lining up for a proven playoff performer like Butler? His reported asking price for his next contract is likely to blame.
The league's new collective bargaining agreement features punishing restrictions for teams with bloated payrolls. As a result, teams are getting more cautious about handing out big-money deals. James Harden learned that the hard way shortly after the new CBA was ratified.
Harden expected the Sixers to hand him a long-term max contract during the 2023 offseason, but they reportedly went radio silent on him in the days leading up to free agency. That caused him to unexpectedly pick up his $35.6 million player option and demand a trade.
The Sixers eventually shipped Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers, who were likewise unwilling to give him a full four-year, $200-plus million max contract. Instead, they re-signed him to a two-year, $70 million deal with a second-year player option this past offseason.
Harden wasn't the only star with whom the Clippers played hardball over the past year. In January, they signed two-time Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard to a three-year, $149.5 million extension that was roughly $10 million less than the maximum he could have received. Meanwhile, their negotiations with Paul George eventually broke down, leading him to sign a four-year, $211.6 million max deal with the Sixers in free agency this past summer.
According to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, the Clippers "were willing" to re-sign George, but they "drew a line at a fourth year with concerns over age, money and flexibility." The Sixers were in a unique position to take advantage thanks to Tyrese Maxey, although the early returns on their Big Three era likely won't spawn many imitators.
Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert also felt the squeeze of the NBA's new financial environment this past fall. He declined his $46.7 million player option for the 2025-26 season to sign a three-year, $109.5 million extension. He'll go from earning $43.8 million this season to $35 million next year, which is less than what he earned in the first year of his current contract.
This could prove to be a short-lived trend. Once the revenue from the NBA's new national TV contracts begins flowing in next season, the salary cap is projected to rise by a full 10% annually over each of the next few years. The cap growth will outpace annual raises in contracts, which should give teams slightly more financial flexibility.
However, the threat of the second apron still looms large. That doesn't bode well for aging stars who are looking to score one last huge payday, as Butler may soon discover.