DALLAS - While not perhaps not the classic case of paying to make a problem go away, that ultimately proved to be part of the reality for the Miami Heat with Jimmy Butler at last week's NBA trading deadline.
In a kerfuffle that largely centered around the reluctance of Pat Riley, the front office and ownership to offer a contract extension to Butler, the Heat wound up paying their way out of the jam and into the five-team deal that sent Butler to the Warriors and delivered Andrew Wiggins from the Warriors.
As part of the machinations, the Heat made a pair of sizable cash payments to complete the transaction in the five-team deal.
Each season, teams are given a maximum allotment of money that either can be sent out in transactions or take back in transactions, with the figure this season at $7.24 million.
In order to offload pieces in the transaction - essentially cover remaining salaries of players included for cap-matching purposes - the Heat sent out $563,655 to the Jazz to take on the salary of guard Josh Richardson, who since has been waived by Utah. In addition, the Heat sent $3.5 million to the Toronto Raptors, who took on the contract of former Heat forward P.J. Tucker.
Those transactions leave the Heat with $3.2 million in additional cash to send out before the June 30 end of the current cap calendar, for deals after the season or perhaps around the NBA draft.
On the other end of the ledger, the Heat have not taken cash back in any trade during the current cap calendar, still eligible to receive up to $7.24 million in transactions.
The cash does not count against the salary cap, luxury tax or tax aprons. The Heat, idle for the All-Star break after Thursday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center, still face roughly a $4 million luxury-tax payment at season's end.
While the Heat currently are situated above the first apron of the luxury tax, by sending you cash in a trade they are now hard-capped at the second-apron hard cap. That element is largely moot, with transaction season over except for the March 1 buyout deadline.
After scoring just eight points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday night's 115-101 road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Heat took flight to Dallas in search of answers.
"We have to get better. We will," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Like I said, it's not fun going through this. But we're learning our lessons. We're going to continue to get better. And then ultimately, I want to see us make real strides in our resolve and grit when the game is not going the way we want it to go. Can we still function? Can we still do the things that put us in a position to have success?"
Guard Tyler Herro said it has to be an ongoing commitment.
"Just finding ways to play through adversity, playing through when a team ramps up their pressure like that and starts denying me the ball," he said, "just finding different ways to get into our offense so we can get the shots we want without getting taken out of what we want to do."
Center Bam Adebayo said enough should be enough. Only Adebayo (five points) and Wiggins (three) scored in Wednesday night's fourth quarter.
"It's a lesson," Adebayo said. "But how many times we got to keep learning this lesson? And it's not just the players, it's the coaches, as well. We got to understand that we got to all be on the same page."
Tensions remain heated in Dallas in the wake of the trade two weeks ago that sent franchise icon Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for now-sidelined Anthony Davis.
With the Warriors in Dallas on Wednesday night, Golden State coach Steve Kerr addressed the angst received by Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison.
"Death threats for Nico, it's brutal," Kerr said. "It's really sad and you kind of feel for everybody because it's a very emotional business. It's what drives the business.
"The fans obviously love this stuff and if you're a Mavs fan and you're heartbroken; that's really difficult to handle. That's what I'm kind of most interested in. Seeing that and seeing Nico go through stuff that he shouldn't go through, it's all kind of surreal to be honest with you."