Jimmy Butler will be a restricted free agent this offseason and a report from Adrian Wojnarowski indicated he has interest in signing a short-term offer sheet with a rival team to become a free agent again in 2017.

If the Chicago Bulls tender Butler the normal qualifying offer, then an offer sheet must be for more than one season excluding options. Butler would be able to sign the three-year deal that includes a player option for the third season to become an unrestricted free agent in 2017 as reported.

But the Bulls can tender both the qualifying offer as well as the maximum qualifying offer, which means any offer sheet Butler signs with a rival team must be for more than two seasons excluding options. Butler could not become a free agent until 2018 at the earliest under that scenario.

The maximum qualifying offer covers five seasons at a full max.

If Butler does want to become an unrestricted free agent before 2018 and the Bulls give him the maximum qualifying offer, he would have to take the regular qualifying offer, giving up long-term security, then become an unrestricted free agent in 2016.