The 2019 NBA free agency has officially begun on June 30 at 6 PM Eastern Time, and it had over two billion dollars given away within its first hour. Some big-name free agents have made surprising moves, such as Kevin Durant signing a maximum deal with the Brooklyn Nets and teaming up with Kyrie Irving. The Miami Heat have finally gotten a superstar themselves as Jimmy Butler has agreed on a deal that will bring him to South Beach next season.

Butler had expressed his desire to play in Miami, and he even wanted to be traded to the Heat last season when he was in Minnesota.

Unfortunately, the Timberwolves sent him to the Philadelphia 76ers where Butler performed well and appeared in 12 playoff games. However, his time in Philadelphia has come to an end as he was dealt with the Heat in a sign-and-trade deal.

Butler is the newest member of Miami

Since the Miami Heat did not have any cap space, the only way for them to acquire Jimmy Butler was through a sign-and-trade with the Sixers. This type of deal includes Butler signing a deal with the Sixers and then Philadelphia sending him to Miami in exchange for other players. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Miami Heat have traded Josh Richardson to the Sixers, which is a huge loss for the team.

Richardson has established himself as a great young player and scorer for Miami.

He has drastically improved last year, and his contract is salary cap-friendly. Unfortunately, the Heat had to give up on one of their young players in order for the trade to go through, and the Sixers picked the 25-year-old guard. During his career in Miami, Richardson appeared in 259 games, starting in 190 of them. He averaged 12.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.9 assists with the Florida team.

Last season, the guard averaged 16.6 points per game and was one of the best scorers on the team.

No doubt getting Jimmy Butler is a huge upgrade over Richardson, especially considering the fact that the Miami Heat need a leader and a superstar. There are some rumors that Goran Dragic may have been included in the trade as well and that he was sent to the Dallas Mavericks.

This move would be necessary in order to clear enough cap space to sign Butler.

Jimmy Butler's deal

According to Shams Charania, Jimmy Butler is signing a four-year, $142M maximum contract with the Miami Heat. This deal would make Miami a contender in the East, and they would be able to improve their roster further next year when some of their big contracts expire. In addition, it appears that the team is interested in Bradley Beal. Beal would have to be acquired by the Heat in a trade that would involve Miami sending some of their bigger-contract players to Washington.
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