Jimmy Butler, the 2015 NBA Most Improved Player, is about to become a restricted free agent on July 1. Last season, he cemented himself as the Bulls’ most important player, even as Derrick Rose was healthier than he’d been in years. After being a huge bargain on his cheap rookie contract, Butler stands to be paid like the star he’s become, and he’s reportedly willing to leave Chicago to do it, according to the L.A. Daily News‘ Mark Medina:
Jimmy Butler hopes to get short-term deal w/ Lakers, though Bulls will likely match any offer he gets http://t.co/oZiuxJXcDA
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) June 29, 2015
In Medina’s full article, he specifies that Butler is looking for a one-year deal to capitalize on the huge increases in the salary cap coming in 2016 and 2017. However, HoopsHype’s Mark Deeks broke down Butler’s situation in detail in mid-June, and he pointed out that the shortest contract the Lakers could offer Jimmy would be two years before any options are allowed. Additionally, the Bulls could offer Butler the Maximum Qualifying Offer (as opposed to the standard one-year placeholder) before he hits the market, which is a fully-guaranteed, five-year maximum contract with no options. It’s the most money Butler could possibly make from a contract signed in this offseason, but that “in this offseason” caveat is the crucial one here.
Butler doesn’t have to accept the Maximum Qualifying Offer, but if the Bulls offer it, then the shortest deal any other team could offer Butler would be for three years before any options, leaving Butler out of the 2016 and 2017 jumps in the salary cap. It would be a power move from Chicago, designed to reduce Jimmy’s leverage and all but ensure he misses the two boom years if he leaves the Bulls. That would possibly alienate their star, which can have unpredictable consequences, but it’s a risk the Bulls might be willing to take.
Many top-flight players have the leverage and the desire to increase the likelihood that they get a piece of the bigger pie in the future, and Butler is one of them. The Lakers are an intriguing choice, primarily because of the presence of Kobe Bryant at Butler’s natural shooting guard position, but Butler’s shown the strength and mentality to guard small forwards, even though he may be slightly undersized. And Chicago would, of course, be crazy to let Butler go, as legitimate two-way difference makers don’t exactly grow on trees, so they’d be forced to match whatever offer Butler can get from the Lakers, or anyone else, to bring him back.
If Butler signs an offer sheet from Los Angeles, the Bulls would have the right to then negotiate a different deal with Butler, but it couldn’t be for less than the Lakers offered. And of course, Jimmy would be under no obligation to negotiate a different contract than the one the Bulls would match from L.A. So much of this depends on what kind of qualifying offer the Bulls give to Butler before he hits restricted free agency, but the public side of the negotiations has already begun.
(Via L.A. Daily News and HoopsHype)
