Despite the fact that Jimmy Butler will be 35 years old by the time the 2024-25 season begins in the Fall, the Miami Heat forward will reportedly be seeking a max contract extension that would make him among the highest-paid players in the NBA.

Should the Heat decide that they want to move on from Butler and not give him the extension he’s looking for, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports that the Philadelphia 76ers might pursue Butler as they are “monitoring” his situation.

“The player at the top of their list is Paul George… And I think that Philly is going to come out with a max offer to Paul George… There are going to be a number of names that are going to come up [in trade rumors] but I’m going to give you two off the bat here. Both involve players who can get extensions with their teams, but for various reasons, will not,” Windhorst explained on ESPN’s Get Up! on Friday, May 3.

“The first name to watch is Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat. He’s got two years left on his contract, there is interest in him extending, and you may remember, the Sixers chose this Tobias Harris contract instead of paying Jimmy Butler five years ago. Well, that contract is up. If Jimmy Butler wants to extend and the Heat are not willing to do it, is there a way to revisit that? They have assets from the James Harden trade that they could use in addition to cap space.”

The other player that the Sixers will be reportedly monitoring is Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans.

Butler played in Philadelphia for half a season in 2018-19 after the Sixers acquired him in a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Things didn’t work out for Philly and Butler, however, as he signed with the Heat during the following offseason.

With Embiid now 30 years old and having never played more than 68 games in a season (he played in just 39 this year), the Sixers are likely beginning to wonder how much time they’ll have left with Embiid at the peak of his powers before his body starts to break down permanently.