On Tuesday, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported that the Miami Heat are ‘open’ to listening to offers for star forward Jimmy Butler, who could enter free agency this offseason if he opts out of his $52.4 million player option.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra and guard Tyler Herro downplayed the rumors after Tuesday’s practice without Butler speaking to the media. Though roughly 24 hours later, Butler addressed the rumors Wednesday, appearing unfazed by it.
“I actually like it,” Butler said following the Heat’s practice at Kaseya Center on Wednesday. “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.
“It doesn’t bother me one bit and I do appreciate it. I appreciate going out there and hooping and I appreciate being efficient, being effective and helping my team win. I don’t ever take playing basketball for anybody for granted.”
Butler isn’t the only player to have trade speculation surrounding him, with the majority of recently-signed free agents becoming eligible to be traded Sunday. It’s also the NBA we’re talking about, where transaction talk never sleeps, for better or worse.
The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that Butler hasn’t asked out nor are the Heat “aggressively” shopping the 35-year-old. With the potential that he enters free agency this offseason, it’s smart the Heat are reading the market and doing their due diligence. It would be silly not to.
Charania listed the Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets as three potential suitors, which isn’t new news. All three of those teams are hard-capped below the first apron, complicating any trade package for Butler.
The Heat is in the midst of their first three-game win streak of the season with wins over the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers. They are still 12-10 and have still be a fringe-bottom-third team against some of the league’s best. But this has easily been their most encouraging stretch of the season, and they look to build off it Thursday against the lowly Toronto Raptors.
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I feel so sorry for any team being referred to as the lowly or hapless (terrible team). And, I have no doubt Toronto will give us a game.
As for Jimmy, it’s probably a little more than just due diligence. But, maybe it’s dependent on how we fare with KWare back. Maybe they sent him down to work on something specific and now they are going to start blending him into the rotation, as much as he can handle. And maybe, if we do reasonably well over say the next 15 games, maybe we keep Jimmy and add. But, if we falter, we know where to turn.
as good as tyler is playing jimmy is still our best player.trade jim now playoffs are iffy.keep jimmy and add ware skys the limit.jimmys the man the other teams know it.hopefully ty can keep this pace up in march and april we shall see
Good to hear from you. We missed your one man running account of Heat games. Your the one who keeps it going.
Never thought ty could hit this level.Even duncans game looks better .Those two have made the heat better than i would have ever thought.Unfort terry has gone the wrong way big time and jjj has not taken the next step.Think dru has been very good and should take terrys minutos but terry will def be traded anyway