Even as the Miami Heat seek to trade Jimmy Butler, they are not looking to take a big step back.
The Heat are still desperate to make the playoffs this season, with or without Butler. Falling into the lottery would represent a worst-case scenario that could restrict Miami’s ability to make future moves.
That’s because Miami’s 2025 first-round pick owed to the Oklahoma City Thunder is top-14 protected. If the Heat make the playoffs, they would send their first-round pick to the Thunder in June.
Miss the playoffs, and they would send an unprotected pick in 2026 instead.
Not only would that represent a fair amount of risk after trading their best player (an unprotected pick could fall anywhere from 1-30), but it would also trigger a devastating domino effect that loops in Miami’s trade for Terry Rozier last January.
The Heat traded Kyle Lowry and a 2027 protected first to the Charlotte Hornets for Rozier.
Because of the NBA’s Stepian Rule rule that prevents teams from trading away their first-round pick in consecutive years, missing the playoffs would force the Heat to send their 2026 pick to Oklahoma City, and turn that 2027 first owed to Charlotte into an unprotected pick in 2028.
The Heat announced that they are listening to trade offers for Butler after the star requested a trade on Thursday night.
The Heat, with a record of 17-16, are sixth in the Eastern Conference and are highly motivated to make the playoffs. They are also highly motivated to move on from Butler and the distraction of his trade request after the relationship between team and player has deteriorated.
So far, finding a trade that checks Miami’s boxes has been difficult. According to reports, the Heat are seeking a trade that takes back little long-term salary while also remaining competitive.
The Miami Heat want helpful players on short-term contracts in return for Jimmy Butler.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Sunday that, “the Heat, however, 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.”
As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on Sunday, most interested parties are low-balling the Heat as the organization loses leverage in negotiations.
“They’ve definitely gotten a lot of calls. The issue is that most of the offers are not that attractive to the Heat,” Windhorst said. “Right now, I think you’re seeing a lot of teams sort of testing just how low they might be able to buy Jimmy Butler for.”
The Golden State Warriors, once considered a logical landing spot, have backed off a pursuit of Butler, according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, Marcus Thompson II and Sam Amick.
Among Butler’s preferred destinations, the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks have not expressed any reported interest.
The Phoenix Suns remain the team most motivated to trade for Butler, and would be willing to offer him a max contract, according to Stein, but they would need to find a third team to take on Bradley Beal’s contract to facilitate a deal. That, so far, has proved challenging. In addition to Beal’s no-trade clause, he is owed $110 million over the next two seasons.