How will Heat handle Jimmy Butler’s request for max extension? Pat Riley offers insight

Jimmy Butler wants more from the Miami Heat, and the Heat wants more from Butler.

Butler is expected to ask for a maximum two-year contract extension worth about $113 million from the Heat this offseason, according to a league source, and the Heat will ask Butler to play in more games next season.

Whether either side fulfills the other’s request remains to be seen, as Heat president Pat Riley was noncommittal on Monday when asked whether the Heat will offer Butler the max extension he will seek this offseason.

“We don’t have to do that for a year. So we have not discussed that internally right now,” Riley said during his 43-minute season-ending news conference Monday afternoon. “But we have to look at that, making that kind of commitment and when do we do it. We don’t have to do it until 2025 actually. But we’ll see. We haven’t made a decision on it, and we really haven’t in earnest discussed it. So we’ll just see what happens.”

Riley is right, the window to sign Butler to that extension opens July 7 and doesn’t close until June 30, 2025.

The issue is that Butler and his camp will push for that extension before the start of the upcoming season, according to a league source. Choosing not to offer this exact extension this offseason could lead to a disgruntled Butler.

“I mean, if he requests, we can either accept or we can say we’re going to think about it,” Riley said when asked what the Heat will do if Butler requests the extension this offseason. “But we have not made a decision on it. I think you make too much out of this. He still has two years left on his contract, theoretically. He’s got a player option. But that’s something that we have to give some real thought to based on a lot of factors. ... That’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless you’re somebody who’s really going to be there, available every single night. That’s the truth.”

The truth is the Heat wants to see Butler stay healthy and be available for more games before investing more money in him.

Butler, who turns 35 on Sept. 14, missed 20 or more regular-season games for the third time in the past four seasons this regular season because of injuries and other reasons. He also was not available for the Heat’s short-lived five-game playoff run this season because of a sprained MCL in his right knee he sustained during the NBA’s play-in tournament.

“That was discussed prior to last year,” Riley said when asked whether the Heat needs to put pressure on Butler to be available for more regular-season games. “We had a discussion with his agent about that. That was discussed thoroughly.”

In the wake of Riley’s comments regarding Butler’s availability, Butler’s agent Bernie Lee said to the Miami Herald on Monday: “Coming out of this season, a year in which the team didn’t either have the same success in the year previous and in Miami’s case didn’t return to and win the Finals, everything has to be examined and it will be. And the necessary changes will be put in place not because anyone else said so, or to prove anything to anyone externally, but simply because that’s the way Jimmy has built his entire career. He has one goal left and that’s to win a championship. Period.”

But the truth also is that Butler wants his max extension from the Heat this offseason. That’s a demand that’s not expected to change, according to a league source.

The extension that Butler will seek would replace his 2025-26 player option worth $52.4 million and begin that season. This two-year max extension would include salaries of $54.3 million for the 2025-26 season (nearly a $2 million increase from the player option in Butler’s current contract for that season) and $58.6 million for the 2026-2027 season when Butler will be 37 (those salary numbers could fluctuate based on where the NBA’s salary cap is set for those seasons).

“I think he has that ability,” Riley said when asked whether he’s confident that Butler can still be the best player on a championship contender at this stage of his playing career. “But it’s like anybody else, you might have to make some changes in your overall routine, your approach to the game, whatever it is.”

When asked if he would consider trading Butler this offseason, Riley shot down that notion for now.

“No, not right now,” Riley answered. “You’re asking the question and you want your answer, and you’re not going to get it.”

Riley did give his opinion on Butler’s comments from this past weekend at a Formula 1 race in Miami Gardens, when Butler said: “If I was playing, Boston would be at home, New York damn sure would ... be at home.” With Butler sidelined by his knee injury, the eighth-seeded Heat was eliminated by the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs this season, 4-1.

“I thought, is that Jimmy trolling or is that Jimmy serious?” Riley said. “If you’re not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut in your criticism of those teams.”

One thing that Riley also made clear is that he feels the Heat’s biggest issue is player availability. That goes for Butler and others on the roster.

With the Heat among the most-injured teams in the league this season, it set a franchise record with 35 different starting lineups used this regular season. In addition, injuries limited the Heat’s leading trio of Bam Adebayo, Butler and Tyler Herro to just 27 games together this regular season.

That’s simply not a winning formula for the Heat or any NBA team.

“This five-year window, we’ve been pretty successful,” Riley said looking back at Butler’s first five seasons with the Heat, which has included three East finals appearances and two NBA Finals appearances but no NBA championship. “We haven’t won the [championship] and I think that bothers everybody.

“But our organization is not about rebuilding. I’ll never use the word. We’ll re-tool as if we’re rebuilding to try to make it better. We’ve always done that. And we’re not going to avoid anything if we have an opportunity to bring in who we think is the critical piece. There’s only a couple of them in the league. But for the most part, we have to try to control those things we can control — player availability.”