Miami Heat Free Agency: Jimmy Butler Meeting Expected

Dwyane Wade is officially retired and Udonis Haslem Haslem has not filled out his official retirement papers.

However, it’s safe to say that the Miami Heat have a young roster going into next season.

If you’re tardy to the party: Next season’s roster of Justise Winslow, Bam Adebayo, Josh Richardson, Derrick Jones Jr. joined a seasoned vets Goran Dragic, Hassan Whiteside, James Johnson, and Dion Waiters.

What can the Heat really do to make a splash this offseason?

“They have some good players not great players,” NBA writer, Steve Kyler told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast last week.

“I’d say their great players are aging. But hey Justice Winslow looked great last year, Josh Richardson has been great at times. Love Dion Waiters but he’s not the leading lady. So yeah they just have a lot of middle tier guys their plan is to get the cap space for next year there’s not a lot of dudes to get next year.”

As I reported earlier this week: The Miami Heat will get a meeting with free agent, Jimmy Butler.

The Heat were in the running for Butler this past fall, however, there was an issue as to whether Miami wanted to part ways with Josh Richardson.

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The Sixers ultimately won the Butler sweepstakes in a deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves that shipped Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a 2020 second-round pick for Butler and forward Justin Patton in November.

Jimmy was solid.

The forward averaged 18.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and four assists for the City of Brotherly Love during the 2018-2019 season.

So yeah, Jimmy to the M-I-A?! There’s one problem: cap space!

Per The Big Lead: In order to have a chance of signing Butler, the Heat will likely need to clear players like Hassan Whiteside, Ryan Anderson and Goran Dragic from their cap books. However, finding a partner to take on these contracts will not be an easy feat.

Seems shaky!

“If anyone is taking a one-year deal there’s some unrestricted free agents and potential free agents,” Steve Kyler tells Scoop B Radio.

“It isn’t bad to be the one team with cap money. So it seems that they’re planning for 2020 and have a bunch of money in 2020. But they wouldn’t trade any of these contracts today especially if someone wants to get out of dodge and get away.”

The Houston Rockets who were at one point a favorite to land Butler via trade in the fall are believed to have interest in Butler via free agency this summer.

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