The Brooklyn Nets are in one of the most desirable situations in the league entering the 2024-25 season. The Nets will be top players during the 2025 NBA offseason, as they could strike big in the draft and during the free agency period. Brooklyn wants to build a sustainably successful team, but their rebuilding efforts could be accelerated with an intriguing rumor regarding Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler.
After the 2024-25 season, Butler will have to decide on his $52 million player option with the Heat. He can either opt in and stay for another year before entering unrestricted free agency in 2026 (barring Miami does not offer him an extension), or he can opt out and test the market in 2025.
Brian Lewis of the New York Post explained why the Nets could be a landing spot for Butler ahead of the upcoming free agency period, stating Butler is the "most accomplished" on the Nets' potential list of targets, and even more importantly, Butler "likes" Brooklyn, per Lewis' Aug. 31 members-only article.
How would Jimmy Butler fit on the Nets?
This is not the first time Butler has been a rumored player to land on the Nets. Brooklyn found itself in a flexible state during the 2019 free agency period, one of the most stacked in league history. The Nets were able to sign two max contract-level players, which turned into Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. But had the two not decided on Brooklyn, Jimmy Butler would have been likely to land there, as speculated by Bleacher Report.
If Butler were to join the Nets in 2025, he would add valuable veteran experience and a notable two-way boost. The 34-year-old comes off a 2023-24 season where he averaged 20.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. Butler had an intense battle with the Nets during the first round of the 2019 playoffs, but many of Brooklyn's players from that squad are now gone. If Butler wants a change of scenery, going to a team in a top market with promising young talent like the Nets could be the move.
Butler has led the Heat to two NBA Finals appearances in three years (2020 and 2023). If he and Miami do not make any noise during the 2024-25 season, he could choose to find a new home. Will that home be with the Nets in 2025?