Many were skeptical of the Golden State Warriors handing Jimmy Butler a two-year, $110 million extension upon his blockbuster arrival in February, yet part of the move was to avoid what could have been a very awkward alternative.
The Warriors made all the headlines this offseason for the elongated Jonathan Kuminga drama, but just imagine how much worse it could have been had they also had to deal with Butler as well. Without the extension the 6x All-Star would have entered unrestricted free agency, perhaps making for a messy scenario for both parties that might have ended with Butler leaving after a matter of months with the franchise.
That's exactly why the trade and extension were one in the same. Could the Warriors have waited and brought Butler back at a smaller number in free agency? Perhaps. But they also bought his happiness with the extension and prevented the potential of a nightmare situation.
Warriors were ahead of the pack with Jimmy Butler contract
As we've increasingly seen over recent years, free agency is becoming a dying avenue for players to try and get the money they're after. The Kuminga situation wasn't ideal for either party, even if Golden State eventually got their way with a deal on their terms.
Given the new CBA and the restrictions that come with the first and second tax aprons, very few teams are entering free agency with legitimate cap space. That proves problematic for players looking to make north of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
Myles Turner was the only player to leave for another team this offseason on a deal worth more than $16 million in average salary, and even then it took a stunning move from the Milwaukee Bucks who waived-and-stretched Damian Lillard's deal.
Players are now going to be far more likely to seek extensions than take the risk of what free agency can involve, just as Jake Fischer of The Stein Line recently reported while pointing to the mid-season deals for Butler and Brandon Ingram in Toronto.
"Players seeking extensions so they don't even have to mess with free agency, as we've covered in various articles, is best described as a yearslong trend by now," Fischer wrote.
This could prove the Warriors are ahead of the pack with the kind of move we saw with Butler in February. There may be even more trade movement involving stars going forward, particularly if a team is questioning whether to pay a player in the long-term, or if the player makes things incredibly uncomfortable as Butler did in Miami.