The Heat and Jimmy Butler have reached a settlement agreement on the fines that accompanied multiple team-imposed suspensions last season, reports Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required).
According to Winderman, Butler recouped approximately half of about $6MM in salary that he forfeited during those suspensions while he was a member of the Heat.
A source familiar with the deal told the Sun Sentinel that both parties were satisfied with the agreement, which was reached after the players’ union filed a grievance on Butler’s behalf. As Winderman explains, the Heat were found during the appeals process to be within their right to have suspended the star forward, while Butler was considered to be “reasonable in questioning the degree of the sanctions.”
Butler, who was seeking a trade out of Miami prior to February’s deadline, was repeatedly suspended by the Heat due to conduct detrimental to the team, disregarding team rules, and, eventually, “withholding services.”
The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement called for Butler to be docked $336,543 per game (1/145th of his $48,798,677 salary) for his initial suspensions for conduct detrimental to the team, which covered nine games, then $532,737 per game (1/91.6th of his salary) on his last indefinite suspension for failure to render services. That last suspension covered five games before the trade sending him to Golden State was finalized.
Settlement agreements aren’t uncommon in situations like this one. For instance, when Ben Simmons forfeited nearly $20MM of his salary in 2021/22 for a failure to render services, he and the Sixers eventually worked out a settlement that saw him recoup a portion of that lost salary.
Butler’s first full season with the Warriors got off to a good start on Tuesday, as he racked up 31 points while making all 16 of his free throws en route to a victory over the Lakers.