When the Miami Heat landed Jimmy Butler this past summer, Pat Riley apparently promised him another star. The numbers make that reality very likely.
As NBA training camps get set to kick off in just a few weeks, the Miami Heat on September 25th and some earlier than others based on worldwide exhibition games that are scheduled for certain teams, we have come to that point in the year where the ancillary nuts and bolts have started to become news. One of these little widget types of stories is always one based on the projected salary cap. Here is the latest from The Athletics’s Shams Charania.
The NBA has informed teams of currently projected salary cap and tax level in 2020-21 ($116M/$141M) and 2021-22 ($125M/$151M), sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. It is $1M lower for '20-21 and unchanged for '21-22 based on previous projections.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 16, 2019
With the salary cap for this season set at $109.14 million dollars, the Miami Heat are already well over that number. This would lead you to believe that unless there is a heist of a trade pulled off by Pat Riley before the trade deadline, which wouldn’t be shocking considering his ability to get things like that done, the Miami Heat will roll with what they currently have on the roster.
When thinking about Charania’s report though and the reported promise that Pat Riley made to Jimmy Butler about acquiring another star, it seems all but a certain. All but certain that he will land another star that is, at least by the start of the 2020-21 season.
While the Miami Heat have enough currently to compete for a top spot in the Eastern Conference, another star would bolster them into being definite Conference Championship contenders, while also giving them the essential firepower to make a case to win the whole thing. With a total payroll that already adds up to $101.1 million for next season, that would at least give them around $14 or $15 million dollars to throw around during the next offseason.
If not by then, which I highly doubt would be the case because Riles is always looking to make improvements, the following offseason of 2021-22 would definitely see the Miami Heat become players in free agency. Based on Charania’s report of around $125 million, the Heat would have a little over $80 million dollars in cap space to fill.
Regardless of how it plays out, the Miami Heat have a real chance to be in contention for the top slot in the East as early as this year, but those chances would increase greatly if there was another star on the roster to complement what they already have. Even if it doesn’t happen this year though and whether it be next offseason or the following, the numbers say that Riley will make good on his promise to Butler. It would simply be that much better for all parties involved if he made good on it more sooner than later.