SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Pat Riley kept swinging when it came to free agents, this time he connected with a target linked to the Miami Heat since the start of last season.
Unable to trade for Jimmy Butler at the start of last season while Butler was with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Riley closed out a sign-and-trade agreement for Butler with the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday's first day of NBA free-agency.
In the transaction, Josh Richardson was dealt to the 76ers, with Goran Dragic moved to the Dallas Mavericks.
The deal gives the Riley the type of leading man the Heat have lacked since LeBron James' free-agency departure during the 2014 offseason.
Shortly after the initial reports, Richardson, on his Twitter feed, posted, "Where da cheesesteaks?"
After coming up short in free-agency bids for Kevin Durant in 2016 and Gordon Hayward in 2017, Riley closed the deal in a meeting with Butler at AmericanAirlines Arena that included coach Erik Spoelstra, general manager Andy Elisburg and other members of the front office.
If nothing else, the Heat have their successor to fellow Marquette product Dwyane Wade, who retired in April after 16 NBA seasons, all but 1 { with the Heat.
Like previous Riley gambits, it again was a case of out-of-the-box thinking, this time with the Heat lacking any cap space.
That meant not only coming up with enough to sate Butler, who was eligible for a four-year, $144 million maximum package from the Heat, but getting Butler to leave more than $40 million on the table from the five-year, $188 million contract he was eligible to sign with the 76ers.
The Heat had attempted to acquire Butler last season before the 76ers instead opted for a package from the Timberwolves that included veteran contributors Dario Saric and Robert Covington.
The Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers were said to also be interested in Butler, ultimately failing to get face time with him.
The 76ers' parting with Butler came after Philadelphia instead offered a five-year max deal Sunday to fellow 76ers free agent Tobias Harris, already in the midst of retooling at that stage after losing free-agent guard JJ Redick to the New Orleans Pelicans. The 76ers followed up by signing Boston Celtics free-agent forward Al Horford.
For the Heat, it was a matter of keeping up with a massive salary-cap space race in the Eastern Conference that has Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant relocating to the Brooklyn Nets, the Boston Celtics signing Kemba Walker, the Orlando Magic re-signing Nikola Vucevic and Terrance Ross and then adding Al Farouq-Aminu, and the Indiana Pacers loading up with Malcolm Brogdon and Jeremy Lamb.
The Heat have missed the playoffs in three of the five years since James' tenure with the team ended following four consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals and championships in 2012 and '13.
Sunday's start of free-agency negotiations not only offered the Heat face time with Butler, but also insight into what the battle for a return to contention in the Eastern Conference might look like.
At the top of the conference, the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors began their courtship for a return by free-agent forward Kawhi Leonard, the Celtics, Magic, Pacers and Nets made their moves, and the Milwaukee Bucks quickly re-upped with Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez.
For the Heat, free agency was a particularly delicate dance, already over the NBA 2019-20 luxury-tax threshold. Their math winds up even more complex, with teams acquiring a player in a sign-and-trade transaction becoming hard capped.
The NBA on the eve of free agency set the salary cap for the upcoming season at $109.14 million, with a luxury-tax line at $132.627 million. Of greatest significance for the Heat is a payroll limit of $138.9 million for teams forced to operate with a hard cap, such as the Heat.
The Heat, with their current taxpayer status, will still have a $5.7 million mid-level exception at their disposal, although their cap status makes it less likely that is put into play.
With the release of the new cap, the rookie-scale contract of Heat No. 13 pick Tyler Herro was formally set at $3.64 million for the coming season, $3.82 million for 2020-21, $4 million for 2021-22 and $5.7 million for 2022-23.
The Heat, who purchased a pick in the second round of the draft, also, like all teams, had their spending allotment for the 2019-20 cap year reset at $5.62 million.
