Dave Hyde: Heat can't extend Butler's deal -- this good era is now gone

Let’s just come out and say it: The Heat can’t extend Jimmy Butler’s contract as NBA convention mandates. They can’t pay him $113 million for two re-done years and keep him until 38.

They have to trade him this offseason, if possible, or live with the unsettling consequences of his playing out the two remaining years on his current deal. It should be open to trading everyone but Bam Adebayo, really, considering this blah roster wasn’t just a healthy Butler from beating Boston in these playoffs.

What’s next?

How to solve a mediocre roster?

One of team president Pat Riley’s extreme makeovers seems in order for the Heat right now. This fun, five-year window is closed. The Butler decisions weighs like no other in that because of the money involved and the fact no player has delivered for the Heat like he has.

Dwyane Wade is the playing face of this franchise. But he won titles beside Hall of Famers like Shaquille O’Neal or LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Butler had a still-developing Adebayo beside him to come within a touch of titles. Don’t dismiss that accomplishment.

But Playoff Jimmy is 35 by next season, the Heat season was a mosh pit of mediocrity, and the Heat didn’t even see if he can still hit those high playoff notes due to injury. Would you bet three years and $162 million he can do so with a contract that takes him to the doorstep of age 38?

Do you want to deal with Regular-Season Jimmy, too? This Jimmy is a prime reason the Heat were a play-in team in the first place over the last two years, too. He put up decent numbers. He also treated the regular season like a dental appointment.

Three games into the season, he took a rest day. The day after watching tennis for eight hours, he called in sick. A team that markets, “Heat Culture,” had to look the other way at such antics with a contending team. Do they keep looking away with a mediocre team?

So, South Florida’s two headline franchises have sticky contract issues to solve this summer involving their biggest names. The Miami Dolphins could have quarterback Tua Tagovailoa play on his fifth-year option considering his health and good-not-great play. All signs point to a new contract coming soon where the details will reveal the grand design.

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