NBA Trade Rumors: The Miami Heat find themselves in a position where they almost have to trade Jimmy Butler to bring hope for the future.
The writing may already be on the wall but at least for now, it's far from a certainty that the Miami Heat will trade Jimmy Butler before the NBA Trade Deadline. However, with all the smoke that is surrounding the topic of late, I do believe there's a real chance it will happen. At this point, I do believe that the Heat would be making a very big mistake if they didn't trade Jimmy before the trade deadline.
Because if they don't trade Jimmy before the trade deadline, that probably means there's a good chance the Heat believes they can re-sign him. As much as that may seem like music to the ears of the fanbase, re-signing Jimmy and keeping him on the roster (for the money he wants) is a bad move that will tank this team's future outlook.
The problem with keeping Jimmy Butler
I completely understand the fan's call to keep Jimmy. It makes sense, especially after how this franchise treated the end of Dwyane Wade's career back in 2016 (when he would go on to sign with the Chicago Bulls). However, Jimmy isn't Wade. And that's OK. Jimmy is a great player who should be considered one of the best players to ever suit up for the Heat. But he'll never be in the same conversation in terms of accomplishments and how Wade literally built this franchise.
The big problem with keeping Jimmy and re-signing him is that will put this team in a position where they're going to waste this young core's prime years. Bam is 27 years old. If the Heat were to sign Jimmy to a two-year extension, that means Bam may not see the next build in Miami until he's into his 30s. And for the money that Jimmy wants, it would put the Heat in a position where they won't be able to build around him all that effectively.
And if they refused to make a big move when Jimmy was playing at an extremely high level over the past few years, I have a hard time imagining they're going to change their approach when he's on his last legs as a star player.
The Heat is not competing with the way the roster is constructed now and if they were to re-sign Jimmy, the team would be waiving the white flag for the next couple of seasons. This team needs to be retooled at the very least and the argument could be made that it might need to be rebuilt altogether. Keeping Jimmy on the roster beyond this season makes that borderline impossible.