MIAMI — With two months to go before the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline, the Jimmy Butler situation continues to evolve.

Just hours after Butler on Wednesday afternoon casually brushed off the report of the Heat listening to outside trade offers, his agent Bernie Lee took a different approach in addressing the trade speculation surrounding his client.

In a report with the headline of “Breaking News” on ESPN’s social media channels, Shama Charania reported Wednesday night: “The Phoenix Suns are another team that Jimmy Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, has indicated in league circles that the six-time All-Star is open to as a destination while Miami listens to trade offers, sources tell ESPN, joining Dallas, Houston and Golden State.”

That’s when Lee went to social media and unleashed a stream of posts on X aimed at Charania.

“Alright listen,” Lee said to begin his response. “I gave you a pass yesterday because I was busy but if you don’t stop putting my name on your complete and utter made up bull — because you know you normally aren’t worth my time to acknowledge.”

This all began when Charania posted a story on ESPN.com on Tuesday morning that included a sourced report on Butler’s situation with the Heat: “The Heat are open to listening to offers for Butler and making a deal if the proposal is right, league sources told ESPN, and Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, has indicated in league circles that Butler is open to destinations such as two of the Texas teams (Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks) and the Golden State Warriors. Butler is a native of Houston. Above all, though, he is believed to prefer a win-now title contender in any trade. Teams have also been informed that Butler intends to opt out of his deal in the offseason and become a free agent, sources said.”

Following his first post on social media on Wednesday night, Lee continued to go at Charania: “I don’t know what I’m going to do because I’m a middle aged dad but just know it would indicate severe dislike. World… all this is fabricated. I have never and honestly it wouldn’t help me or the position I represent to do anything that’s been reported by said ‘journalist.’”

In Lee’s third and final post responding to Charania’s reports, he wrote: “Shams this is your opportunity to say my bad ‘I let chat GPT write my tweets and it went old school Peter Vecsey.’ (Shams Peter was a writer in the 90’s) be a trend setter.. invent the new I was hacked. Carry on all. Thank you.”

Heat owner Micky Arison re-posted Lee’s response to Charania on his own social media account on X.

What has frustrated Lee the most regarding the speculation surrounding his client in recent days?

“Anything associated to Jimmy’s position and using my name as the tool to cement a headline,” Lee said to the Miami Herald. “Jimmy’s job is to perform at his job to the best of his many abilities and to drive that team to win. As of today, Jimmy analytically grades out as approximately the sixth-eighth best player in the NBA and his team has almost a plus 10 point differential when his usage is over 20. The Golden State Warriors, when they won 73 games were a plus 11.6. He’s doing his job, really well, and that is the focus, which in turn makes it my focus.”

While Charania reported that the Heat is now open to “listening” to trade offers for Butler, a league source said that Butler has never asked to be traded and the Heat is not aggressively shopping him.

“I actually like it,” Butler said Wednesday afternoon when asked about being at the center of trade speculation. “It’s good to be talked about. I don’t think there’s such a thing as bad publicity, to a point. But if somebody is talking about me getting traded, that’s a lot.”

If Butler declines the $52.4 million player option in his contract for next season and becomes a free agent this upcoming summer, he will be eligible to sign a four-year max contract projected to be worth about $243 million with the Heat or a max three-year contract worth $171 million elsewhere.

But Butler and the Heat don’t have to reach that point if they can agree to a two-year max contract extension worth about $113 million that he’s already eligible for. The Heat has until June 30 to sign Butler to this extension, which would keep him in Miami through the 2026-27 season when he’ll be 37 years old.

After the Heat declined to quickly give Butler a max extension this past summer, he decided to play this season out and become a free agent this summer. That remains Butler’s plan, according to a league source, with the intention of signing a max contract with the Heat or another team this offseason.

Butler, who is in his sixth season with the Heat, entered Thursday night’s matchup against the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center averaging 19 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 55.7 percent from the field this season. He has played in 17 of the Heat’s first 22 games, missing four because of a sprained right ankle and one because of right knee soreness.

Complicating any potential Butler trade is the fact that the Heat, as a team above the first apron, can’t take back more money than it sends out in a trade. Butler is on a $48.8 million salary this season.

“I don’t know,” Butler said Wednesday afternoon when asked if he still wants to spend the rest of his playing career with the Heat. “I’m pretty sure y’all are going to get a report that’s going to say otherwise anyways. So there’s no sense in me answering that question.”

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