MIAMI — As the Miami Heat close out their bookkeeping on 2024-25 and look ahead to next season, a pair of components from the Jimmy Butler trade have received most of the attention.
Was Andrew Wiggins merely a rental, a sizable contract onboarded only to be offloaded in a truer version of reloading?
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And will Davion Mitchell be re-upped in free agency as perhaps the ultimate payoff of the Butler trade?
But then there also is the curious case of Kyle Anderson, the other player acquired in the Butler deal, a component with a curious contract, one that is fully guaranteed at $9.2 million next season and then fully non-guaranteed at $9.7 million in 2026-27, the rare double-expiring deal.
So he could be gone tomorrow in a trade or sometime this offseason, at the February NBA trade deadline, a year from now, or perhaps come to be viewed as a versatile keeper.
To his credit, Anderson, who turns 32 on Sept. 20, at least this time around knows the score, after being traded during a season for the first time in his 11-year career.
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“It’s something I’ve learned from, definitely,” Anderson said during his season-ending exit interview. “It was my first time ever being traded, so hopefully I’ll be ready for it the next time.”
And there likely will be a next time, with the Heat in the midst of a cap crunch and with more pressing needs than a $9 million player who likely sets up again as, at best, a ninth man.
Still, even if just as a rental, Anderson also provided value in the push through the play-in round and into the playoffs, cast as everything from backup center to backup point guard.
All the while, he said, adjusting as much off the court as on.
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“I’ve never been traded before,” he said, downplaying being dealt last July from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Golden State Warriors. “So I knew that was going to be tough for me. I didn’t know how tough it would be. So me going through that, it was something I’ve never been through, being without my family.”
With the Heat, he said he found family, offering praise on the way out to Tyler Herro and Heat captain Bam Adebayo, in the way they helped integrate the newcomers from the Butler trade.
“Bam was awesome, Bam and Tyler. The leaders of this team bring their hard hats to work every day. They’re great teammates. They really care about you,” Anderson said. “I’m not just saying that ’cause it’s cliche and I’m supposed to. Those guys are really fun to be around. They really care about everybody. And they know that they have the team on their back.
“And how (Bam) and Tyler approach that every day is really cool to see. Because those guys get it early in their career. And the whole team, you couldn’t even tell when I got here that we were going through tough times. For everybody to welcome me with the open arms that they did, that meant a lot to me. It was obviously a lot going on. There was a lot going on for myself and Wiggs leaving our family. It didn’t work out, but off the court, our locker room was always in great spirits. And that’s not always the case in the NBA.”
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As for the adjustment to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, Anderson said starting his career under Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs prepared him for his Spoelstra moment.
“I came into the league, playing for Coach Pop, and that was super detailed on the same level as Coach Spo is, and I think sometimes it would just go over my head being 21, 22, 23 years old,” said Anderson, drafted No. 30 out of UCLA in 2014. “It was just a lot for me at times. Now, as I’m older, I took my scars from playing with San Antonio and finally coming around to learn to operate like that.
“Now once I got here to Miami, I’m kind of good at it now and I kind of understand Coach Spo and how he wants things, the attention to detail. That’s something I picked up being here.”
As for potentially picking up where he left off, the personnel market will decide that aspect. A year ago, at the start of the offseason personnel period, Anderson was swept up in the six-team July trade that also involved Klay Thompson, Buddy Hield and numerous pick swaps.
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For now, it has been back home to New Jersey and also taking in games of his beloved New York Mets.
But if there is a return Heat engagement, Anderson said it will be far simpler to process from the start of a season.
“Mentally, it was a challenge,” he said of this past season’s whirlwind. “I’ve got to admit.”