Jimmy Butler is expected to sign a four-year max extension with the Heat, Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic report (Twitter link).
Butler can officially sign the extension on Friday. Based on the projected 2022-23 salary cap, the extension will be worth approximately $186.6M.
The acquisition of Butler in a sign-and-trade with Philadelphia in 2019 propelled the club to the 2020 Finals and he’s looked upon as the leader of a team built on toughness and defense. There was growing optimism that Butler and the franchise would agree to an extension and that has apparently come to fruition. Butler’s extension is part of a frenzy of planned moves designed to get Miami back to the Finals next season, according to Marc Stein of Substack.
Miami is also expected to acquire veteran point guard Kyle Lowry and re-sign sharpshooting wing Duncan Robinson.
Injuried limited Butler to 52 regular season games this past season but he still put up big numbers — 21.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, a career-high 7.1 APG and 2.1 SPG.
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