SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ It took longer than expected and became bigger than anticipated, but the sign-and-trade transaction that delivered Jimmy Butler to the Miami Heat is now a done deal.
Morphing into a permutation that factored in the Heat's trade of center Hassan Whiteside to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Heat secured Butler at the previously agreed rate of $142 million over four years, the most the 29-year-old scorer could receive from an outside team.
With the Los Angeles Clippers drafted into the agreement, Maurice Harkless, one of the two players acquired from the Trail Blazers in the Whiteside trade, goes to the Clippers, as well as a future Heat first-round pick.
The deal cannot become official until the Saturday close of the NBA personnel moratorium.
The Heat initially had sought a three-way trade with the Dallas Mavericks, but those talks broke off when the Heat believed the agreement was for the Mavericks to take on the final year on Goran Dragic's contract, and Dallas believed that it would be receiving Kelly Olynyk and Derrick Jones Jr. from the Heat.
Instead, Dragic, Olynyk and Jones remain with the Heat.
Forward Josh Richardson remains the component of the Butler trade going to the Philadelphia 76ers, who had to facilitate the deal with the Heat operating above the salary cap and lacking the cap space to outright sign Butler.
As with all teams obtaining a player in a sign-and-trade transaction, the Heat now will be forced to play under a hard cap for the 2019-20 season, not allowed, under any circumstance, to exceed a total payroll of $138.9 million for the season.
As part of the four-team trade that began with the Whiteside departure, the Heat also will receive 3-point shooting big man Meyers Leonard from the Trail Blazers.
The maneuvers position the Heat to field an opening lineup with Bam Adebayo at center, Olynyk at power forward, Butler at shooting guard, Dragic at point guard, with a variety of wing options for the other starting role, including Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters. It also leaves the Heat with such players in reserve as first-round pick, second-round pick KZ Okpala and returning players James Johnson, Jones, Duncan Robinson, Yante Maten, either Waiters or Winslow, as well as Leonard. Forward Ryan Anderson will be waived in order to get the Heat below their now-imposed hard cap.
