If the Miami Heat getting completely dominated by the Indiana Pacers–even though the final score was only 128-115–wasn’t enough for you, boy do I have some news for you.
Heat star Jimmy Butler commented Thursday evening that he doesn’t have any joy playing for the Heat anymore.
“I want me to get my joy back from playing basketball,” he said. “And wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon.”
When asked about whether that reconciliation would be with the Heat, Butler replied, “probably not.”
Butler, who returned after a 13-day absence with an illness this week, scored just nine points with two rebounds, four assists and two steals in 27 minutes in Miami’s 13-point loss to the Pacers.
He also scored nine points against the New Orleans Pelicans on New Year’s Day, his first game back from injury. He didn’t play the fourth quarter in either game, getting an injection from the youth movement in both games.
Butler is averaging 17.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game on 55.2 percent shooting–a career-best–and 37.5 percent from 3-point range on low volume. He is currently on-track to play 56 games, four fewer than he played last year and seven fewer than in 2024-25, his best season with Miami.
This is a damning checkpoint in what could be the beginning of the end of Butler in Miami–even though there have been plenty of seeds planted in recent weeks. This isn’t surprising. The team isn’t playing well and, while he’s been efficient, Butler hasn’t been wholly impactful on both ends for most of the season.
With Heat president Pat Riley releasing a statement that they won’t trade the six-time All-Star, it’ll be interesting to monitor how the next month before the Feb. 6 trade deadline could potentially change things. There’s still a non-zero chance they move him, but has it become more likely after tonight?
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This is a developing news story. Stay tuned for updates.
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You had a good run with the Heat. Fair well, Jimmy!
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Thanks for the Memories. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Trade Jimmy, the sooner the better
I’m on the Heat’s side on this. Time to trade Jimmy. And let’s hope we can make the best of this.
But, we should thank Jimmy as he carried a team that otherwise would not have done anything, to two championship series. Jimmy’s era was one of greatness, more than anyone expected.
Good luck to Jimmy, and may the rebuild begin. Now let’s hope Pat gets off his ass and does his job.
Sorry, but the blame should fall on Pat Riley for this debacle. Every year he puts mediocre talent around Jimmy Butler and then asks Butler to drag this team to the Finals and for Spo to squeeze every last drop of potential out of the players. He then openly humiliated said star in the off-season through the media. If it wasn’t for Jimmy and Spo getting teams compiling of several G-league players to the Finals twice, I think everyone would be looking at Riley a different way