It turns out Pat Riley knew something we didn’t know all along. After weeks of rumors that Jimmy Butler wanted to come to the Miami Heat, even though there was no clear path outside of a sign-and-trade (which as recently as Saturday night looked to require at least three teams), it’s official.
The Miami Heat have in fact acquired Jimmy Butler from the Philadelphia 76ers via sign-and-trade, and they’ll sign him to the max allowed when sign-and-trades take place, which is a 4-year deal worth $142 million. While the Sixers could have signed him to a full 5-year max, a sign-and-trade permits a max of only what the acquiring team could offer, so Butler won’t be leaving a dollar on the table of what’s available to him in Miami.