The 5 Players on the Miami Heat with the Highest Salaries

While the National Basketball Association (NBA) has a salary cap, teams are permitted to exceed the cap if they pay taxes. For the 2023-24 season, the salary cap was set at $136.021 million; however, all but three of the NBA's 30 teams spent more than that on player salaries. Twelve teams, including the Golden State Warriors ($211.8 million) and Los Angeles Clippers ($202.1 million) exceeded the 2023-24 luxury tax level of $165.294 million.  

The Miami Heat had the seventh-highest team salary in the league in 2023-24 at $181.7 million, just behind the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets ($181.9 million) and ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers ($173.9 million). Below are the five highest-paid players on the Heat.  

1. Jimmy Butler ($45.2 Million) 

With an average annual salary of $45.2 million, Jimmy Butler is Miami's highest-paid player and the 11th-highest-paid player in the league, just behind Milwaukee Bucks players Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo and Clippers players Kawhi Leonard and Paul George at $45.6 million. A 34-year-old alumnus of Marquette University, Butler was traded to the Heat from the 76ers as part of a four-team trade in July 2019 and signed a three-year, $146-million contract extension with Miami in August 2021. He has a $52.4-million player option for the 2025-26 season. 

Butler was an All-Star in his first season with the Heat, averaging 19.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game. He led the league in steals (2.1) the following season and averaged 22.9 points, the second-highest mark of his career, in the 2022-23 season. He averaged 27.4 and 26.9 PPG in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 playoffs, respectively, earning the nickname "Playoff Jimmy." He scored a franchise-best 56 points in the Heat's Game 4 victory over the Bucks in the second round of the 2023 playoffs and led the Heat to the NBA Finals.

2. Bam Adebayo ($32.6 Million) 

Selected 14th overall by the Heat in the 2017 NBA Draft out of the University of Kentucky, Bam Adebayo is in the third year of a five-year, $163-million contract. He signed the max extension in November 2020 and is making $32.6 million in 2023-24. He'll earn $34.8 million in 2024-25 and $37.1 million in 2025-26, at which point he'll be one of only three current Heat players under contract, although Butler has a player option and Miami has team options for Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jović. 

Adebayo has averaged at least 15.9 PPG in each of the last four seasons, including a career-best 20.4 PPG in 2022-23, when he was an All-Star for the second time in his career. He's also a four-time All-Defensive team member. 

"I feel it comes from having that workhorse mentality," Adebayo told NBA.com about his defensive prowess. "Being available and continuing to give the effort. That's defense—effort, effort, effort. Like [coach Erik Spoelstra] says in the media sometimes, 'multiple efforts.' It's being willing to 'burn that extra calorie and get there.' That's what we say in practice." 

3. Kyle Lowry ($29.7 Million) 

A 37-year-old veteran in his 18th NBA season, Kyle Lowry is a six-time All-Star point guard on an expiring contract. He's making $29.7 million this season in the final year of a three-year, $85-million contract he signed with the Heat as part of a sign and trade with the Toronto Raptors. Lowry spent nine seasons in Toronto and won the NBA Championship with the Raptors in 2019. He averaged 13.4 points, 7.5 assists, and 4.5 rebounds in his first season with the Heat.  

Lowry was the fourth-oldest player in the league entering the 2023-24 season behind Chris Paul, PJ Tucker, and LeBron James. He told Sportsnet in December 2023 that he doesn't have plans to retire after this season but, when he does, it will be as a member of the Raptors.  

4. Tyler Herro ($27 Million) 

Selected 13th overall by the Heat in the 2019 NBA Draft, Tyler Herro made an immediate impact with the team, averaging 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game in his rookie season and earning a spot on the 2019-20 All-Rookie team. He won the Sixth Man of the Year in 2021-22 after averaging 20.7 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists per game, coming off the bench in 56 of the 66 games in which he played.  

Miami rewarded Herro for his strong play the following season, signing him to a four-year, $120-million contract extension in October 2022. He's making $27 million this season in the first year of that deal and will make $33 million in the final year in 2026-27. 

5. Duncan Robinson ($18.1 Million) 

An undrafted small forward and shooting guard out of the University of Michigan, Duncan Robinson has gone from role player to one of the Heat's highest-paid players. He's making $18.1 million this year in the third year of a five-year, $90-million contract signed in August 2021. He had a career year in 2019-20, averaging 13.5 PPG on 44.6 percent efficiency from three-point range.