The Miami Heat does not want to extend Jimmy Butler.
Jimmy Butler believes he deserves an extension or trade from the Miami Heat.
And then there are still wounds to heal, from Pat Riley to Jimmy Butler, and all of this has come to a head in recent days.
Seems simple enough, right?
Butler has let the Heat know he would like a change of scenery, sources told Yahoo Sports. His first choice in all of this was to stay with the Heat with a contract extension in hand, but Riley gave no indication he was willing to do that.
Riley’s question calling Butler after last season ended, essentially telling him to “shut up and play,” didn’t sit well with Butler — as well as Heat officials’ insinuation Butler didn’t played hard against New Orleans on Wednesday in his first game back from an illness.
“I want to see myself rediscover my joy of playing basketball,” Butler told reporters after Thursday night’s game against Indiana, in which he went out with 1:54 left in the third and did not return.
“Wherever it is, we’ll find out here very soon.” I’m happy here off the court, but I want to get back to some dominance, I want to play hoops and I want to help this team win, and right now, I’m not doing that.
Friday evening, the Heat announced they were suspending Butler for seven games “for several instances of conduct detrimental to the team during the season.”
“Through his actions and statements,” the team said in a statement, “he has shown that he no longer wants to be a part of this team. Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded. We will listen therefore offers.”
This gets a little ugly and it doesn’t have to be.
Butler is averaging 17.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 22 games this season, shooting a career-best 55.2 percent from the field on just 10.5 attempts per game.
His six-year stay in Miami is the longest since his first six seasons as a Chicago Bull, and he made stops in Minnesota and Philadelphia in between.
Neither side is on board with the warm and fuzzy feelings, but this is a relationship thing — and Butler has carried undermanned teams to two trips to the NBA Finals and was by a hair of a third in 2022.
In his last two playoff series, over a sample size of 39 games, Butler averaged 27.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.9 steals while going 48-35-82. Sure, he’s a headache and the ultimate mirror of what your organization is or isn’t, but the numbers indicate that when he’s healthy, the return is worth it.
From Butler’s perspective, especially in today’s world of the second apron, he would feel much better in his late 30s (he turned 35 in September) without having to deal with the treacherous world of free agency without restriction, because there are not many teams with money. available in July.
Teams that might have money, or even move money, aren’t close enough to competing to make it worth it — at least not now.
For Miami, it doesn’t want to commit a lot of money to the same restrictive tax world for a player who has had availability issues in recent years. And Riley had no problem letting Dwyane Wade enter free agency, not giving LeBron James carte blanche at the time and trading Shaquille O’Neal when the big man was at the end of his career.
But what are the Heat without Butler? The franchise is highly regarded and head coach Erik Spoelstra is considered one of the two best coaches in basketball, consistently doing more with less.
His main cog has been Butler, and the Heat have tried to make a Big Three with Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. They’re talented, but the conference has gotten considerably tougher at the top in recent years with the Celtics and Knicks loading up, while the Cavaliers have grown internally.
The Heat didn’t acquire Damian Lillard when he wanted out of Portland, or Donovan Mitchell when Utah had him on the trade block, or Bradley Beal — and to be fair, not every team was willing to discuss seriously with Miami. The Heat kept their powder dry, preferring to focus on their own development, but that kept them in a situation where they had to outdo themselves.
Doing just enough isn’t enough anymore, and if Butler saw Paul George get a max – a player he’s comparable to and even more accomplished in the playoffs than – we can see how he wants to show a new employer that he’s worth market value he asks. .
Butler is owed $52 million next season, but it appears he will surely opt out for a longer contract with more guaranteed money, or even a lower annual salary. Over the summer, Philadelphia attempted to sign Miami to a Butler deal before agreeing to terms with George – Joel Embiid wanted a reunion with Butler and insisted on it, according to sources who have spoke to Yahoo Sports over the summer and recently.
It is easy to see that the maximum slot occupied by George could very well have been that of Butler.
Butler hasn’t given the Heat a list of preferable teams, at least not yet, but you’d think Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and Golden State are at or near the top of the list. If you think of Butler as a handful in some way, he’s pretty accommodating on the court. He’s a plug-and-play star who can fit in virtually anywhere, even with the 3-point-happy Warriors if they want to try to really give Stephen Curry a running mate during his golden years.
Making a deal work and be worth it for the Heat could be difficult, as the franchise has never really embraced rebuilding and sits in sixth place in the East at 17-15.
Riley telling the vocal butler to shut up was probably the first sign that this relationship was heading toward divorce, but it was time to clear the air and move on for the sake of this season.
So far that hasn’t been the case and the noise is getting louder in South Florida.
Neither Butler nor Riley are uncomfortable with being uncomfortable, which means it could lead to a long standoff or something that thankfully ends very quickly.
Either way, it appears this relationship has run its course, a sign of the NBA’s new economic reality and perhaps an inevitable conclusion of the immutable force linked to the unstoppable object.