After almost a full calendar year of Jimmy Butler contract/trade speculation, the inevitable has happened. The Miami Heat star has formally and officially demanded his way out of South Beach following Thursday night’s home loss to the Indiana Pacers.
These Butler updates have only heated up, literally and figuratively, as the weeks have gone by. And despite the denial of deciphering the difference between rumors and official reports, mostly with ESPN insider Shams Charania and national media, it gets proven that where there is smoke there is indeed fire.
But where did things really go wrong between the organization and one of the greatest players in franchise history?
It’s been noted, and both sides between Pat Riley and Butler have strong points. It seems that this all took a turn for the worst as soon as Riley infamously called him out at his 2024 end of season press conference. He had enough of all the talk and writing checks that the star can’t cash in regard to his proclamation that he would’ve taken down the eventual champion Boston Celtics last postseason, if he was healthy.
Riley then doubled down and challenged his availability, insinuating that he isn’t ready to commit to the financial resources for an aging player that has a proven bad track record with injuries.
Charania also iterated these same reports, citing that the relationship between Butler and Riley hasn’t recovered ever since those comments from the team president.
Despite him wanting to see more of a commitment to improving his availability issues, Butler proceeded to be on pace to play the least amount of games of his entire six-year Heat tenure this season.
It doesn’t end there, as Charania also noted on the Christmas Day breaking news of Butler “preferring” a trade out of Miami, that he wasn’t happy with the front office’s inability to improve the roster over the years.
With all this being said, it has been a sloppy turn of events from Butler, who seemed locked in and ready for another run with Miami at the beginning of the season. Just over two months ago at the 2024 media day session, he spoke a lot different on all of this.
“An extension is just a couple dollars… I’m cool… I’ve made enough.
I just want to play basketball. I want to be available, like what Pat was talking about… I plan on winning a bunch of games and making everybody happy.”
(- Jimmy Butler in September of 2024)
At the end of the day, both parties have their strong points with this messy divorce. For Butler, his era instantly catapulted the Miami Heat to contender status, regardless if the national media admitted it or not. The results of his efforts will never go unnoticed, no matter how messy the ending was. Butler WAS the heart and soul of “Heat Culture”. And he will be a top-three player in franchise history until when/if someone else proves otherwise in the foreseeable future.
Riley’s side is the difficult decision of investing $60+ million per year for a soon to be 36 year old player. And one that misses roughly 25+ games per season nonetheless. Despite Butler’s reputation to be a proven playoff riser, his regular season efforts over the years have had Miami limp into the NBA’s play-in. This includes a most recent first round elimination following a season-ending knee injury out of Butler.
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Warriors targeting Vucevic, not Jimmy.
Bernie Lee is going at Shams hard saying his reporting is BS and then Shams comes out and says he stands behind it 1000%. Really odd to see Jimmy and his team go straight for the burn the boats tactic. Such a bizarre way to end his time here, probably bleeping up any future organizational acknowledgment, at least until Pat is dead and the Arison’s don’t own the team anymore lol
I am watching the Nuggets (and Jokic) vs the Spurs (and Wemby). Two Takeaways:
(1) Those two centers are awesome
(2) Heat should trade Butler to the Nuggets for MPG and Peyton Watson
Jimmy gave us a belief few players can.
It’s gonna be near impossible to replace the player.
It’s gonna be a confusing few years if the next Kawhi or Jalen Brunson doesn’t magically appear.
w/o jimmy for rest of year maybe playin team.sad days ahead for heat nation gotta wait til off season.see what pat can do
Holy cow! Getting ugly now! Heat suspend Butler for 7 games!! Conduct detrimental to the team.
I am the opposite of surprised.
Now somebody do the math to figure out when the 8th game is, and we’ll know the deadline for the Jimmy Butler trade
Denver at home Jan 17th after Utah at home tomorrow and 6 game road trip.
Hey, he may not need to travel far if he’s traded to Denver that day.
Denver at home. Golden State, Sacto and both L.A. teams on the road trip.
he’ll be gone within two weeks
seems like a good time to mention that the Heat lost LeBron, Bosh, and Wade and got absolutely nothing in return.
They were back in the NBA Finals six years later.
Regardless of how this trade shakes out, the Heat will be good. Let’s just trade Jimmy and move on with our lives
Interesting article today in FANSIDED regarding Butler’s possible trade destinations …Houston, OKC and Golden State.
3 teams that can give Jimmy Butler his joy back on the basketball court
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/3-teams-that-can-give-jimmy-butler-his-joy-back-on-the-basketball-court/ar-AA1wV4JD?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=38570031a0e94b5698df795ebb8aacc3&ei=16
Everybody mentions Houston and GS. But if he can turn every team into a contender and anywhere is better than Miami, the Heat should ship him to Portland.
Portland is at the beginning of a 15 year rebuild. I don’t think they are quite ready for a final piece of the puzzle. Plus, their GM is an @$$.
I know. But if Jimmy ended up in Portland, it would be pretty ironic after the whole Lillard trade mess and Jimmy’s current remarks.
Many years ago, some friends of mine found a stray kitten and took him in. The kitten was wild and continuously lashed out, but my friends made a home for him. However, they had small children and someone left a door open at some point, and the kitten got out and ended up getting run over by a car.
He came in wild, and he left wild. While the time they had him was good, it was never his destiny to become tame in a home. His wild cat instincts blew him into their lives like a hurricane, and blew him right back out the same way.
This is really disappointing behavior from Jimmy. Maybe the Heat front office didn’t play this perfectly, but this is very different from what happened to Wade. In that instance, you had a man who was *the identity* of the franchise, who had already sacrificed salary, who was never even the highest-paid player on his own roster for a single year despite everything he did, and who expected his patience and sacrifice to be rewarded only to see the front office swoon over the new shiny thing instead. So he left.
Here, Jimmy has already been rewarded. He’s been taken care of. And part of taking care of Jimmy has meant that we don’t have the cap space to pursue big free agents or make splashy trades, or in some cases even keep the guys we developed in-house.
So he wants the front office to bring in a big name. But he also wants the front office to pay him. Can’t do both. And that’s frustrating. From Jimmy’s perspective, it’s understandable to be frustrated. But his wild cat instincts aren’t serving him well right now. They’re bringing him to do self-destructive things.
It’s true. Although Riley could have been less harsh in his remarks, taking into consideration what Jimmy has achieved with the Heat, I believe the Heat do not owe anything to Butler. He has been taken care of financially. And Riley’s words were 100% true, only Jimmy’s ego got hurt it seems.
Excellent analogy Emily. Btw, great to see you, 2qbn and others jumping in on the conversation(s).
Both sides share in the blame. Both sides allowed their egos to get in the way. Both sides are too proud to forgive and forget. Unfortunately, Jimmy overestimated his value and underestimated Riley’s stubbornness. Now he, the rest of the team and the fans are dealing with the consequences and repercussions.
Ironically, Butler’s departure will allow Miami to get on with it’s re-tooling without having to fully tank. Whatever comes out of any upcoming trade should be better than waiting for summer and letting him walk away for nothing. Riley isn’t going to just give him away.
Personally, I’m excited about the young players Miami has drafted and the unsigned ones the team is developing (e.g., Ware, Larsson, Jovic, Jaquez, Johnson, Smith, Stevens and Christopher). I see both Ware and Johnson being integral parts of the rotation by the time the playoffs arrive. I also think Stevens could be an excellent back-up point guard and a spark plug and stabilizing influence (much like Dru Smith was) coming off the bench.
I’m feeling positive and optimistic about the future. The glass is definitely half full.😊
HAPPY NEW YEAR & GO HEAT!!!
Half full Heat, let’s go!
Riley knew what he was doing when he made those comments just like he knew when he made them about Lebron. It’s the old school pulling your card routine. Pat wasn’t going to watch Jimmy play 50 games and then come ask for a boatload, so he was going to fix that issue one way or another.
double rec
Just jumping in a little late…..agree that both sides have a share in the blame game, this was completely avoidable.
If my memory serves me right …. it seems Riley has formed the habit of shaking up the roster too late with all star caliber players, only when his star player threatens to leave Miami . Wade did it twice …just before Shaq was traded from the Lakers to the Heat and again before Lebron and Bosh came on board. At both times, Riley was not interested in improving the rosters with all star caliber players. Nonetheless , at the slight confrontation and dis-satisfaction with these players . Riley showed no hesitation to move them out after they got him the championships and the players themselves wanted out.
I saw this proposal on si.com. I would take it in a New York Minute.
Heat receive: De’Aaron Fox, Zeke Nnaji, Jordan McLaughlin
Nuggets receive: Jimmy Butler
Kings receive: Michael Porter Jr., Dario Saric, 2030 first-round pick (via MIA), 2028 first-round pick (via DEN), Los Angeles Lakers’ 2026 second-round pick (via MIA)
IS JIMMY BUTLER USING THE SAME AGENT AND ACCOUNTANT AS CALEB MARTIN?
GO HEAT!!!
Rules prohibit barring a player unless they agree to stay away. But they can just let him sit inactive at the end of the bench, so probably in his best interest to agree to stay away while a trade is formulated.
Then that’s what the Heat should push for. The team doesn’t need Minnesota Fiasco 2.0!
He said he will do what team will say, so he will agree, to stay away.
There is a small chance to this become a Tucker situation in LAC. He spent there a year and more mostly away from the Clippers.
Heats best interest can be get rid of Butler in the summer for nothing to get cap space, if offers till trade deadline would be bad. There would be a great irony, if Jimmy is on vacations till the end of the season, and then opt in to f**k up Riley.
If he is at all concerned about his legacy, he would be a fool to go that route. Riley will weigh all his options/offers and pull the trigger on the best one before the February 6th deadline. Meanwhile, Spo can give Ware, Johnson and maybe Stevens playing time and see where it goes.
After the Heat “failed to get Jimmy help”, we can only hope he can rediscover the level of team success he had before coming to Miami
I see what you did there 😀
The Heat did get him his buddy Kyle Lowry. So there’s that.
Exactly. I don’t have a problem with the fact that he has requested a trade. It has always been a possibility (in fact the most likely outcome that either the Heat will decide to trade him or he will want to go). Nobody gets mad about that.
I understand he wants to go win a ring and all of us will wish him the best. What I don’t get is why is he acting as if he was abused in Miami or something. Lost the joy of playing basketball. Come on! It’s ridiculous. I have a suggestion for Jimmy, since he likes to record songs. Although it’s not his genre, he should do a cover of I bruise easily from the british singer Natasha Bedingfield.
Haha. True. Well said.
Chum in the water!