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By all accounts, it looks as if Jimmy Butler has played his last game in a Miami Heat uniform after five-plus seasons in South Beach. Butler, famed for toxicity, has been connected to trade rumors throughout the season, despite legendary Heat general manager Pat Riley insisting that he won’t be traded.
Things finally came to a head last week when Miami got sick of Butler’s antics and suspended him for seven games “conduct detrimental to the team.” That decision all but ensured that Butler would never play for the organization again.
But there’s just one problem. The rest of the NBA already knows this, and that’s why the Heat have received nothing in the way of a suitable offer for Butler. It’s also why Butler could be set to miss way more than the initial seven games that he was suspended for.
“The Heat are preparing internally for this to last past suspension…They know what offers they’ve got and they stink.”
Brian Windhorst on Jimmy Butler’s stalemate with the Heat 🗣️
(via @FirstTake)pic.twitter.com/oII2rhy3ti
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 7, 2025
Trade Offers To Miami Heat For Jimmy Butler ‘Stink’ According To ESPN Reporter
“We’re at a genuine stalemate. I don’t know how it’s going to play out,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on Tuesday’s episode of First Take. “The Heat are preparing internally for this to last past the suspension, not because they’ve got some sort of sinister motive, but because they know what offers they’ve gotten and they stink. So that’s where we’re at now.”
Adding to the issues is the fact that Butler is 35 years old, is scoring less points per game than he has in a decade, and has $52 million player option for next season that it’s very unlikely he declines.
“You can debate about whether or not the Heat should’ve extended their contract after he had a year last year where he missed a lot of games including their playoff series, but he wanted it done,” Windhorst said. “And once the Heat made that decision, we were, in one way or another, probably onto this path.”
And so here we are. Butler still has value. But it’s hard to say how much, and Miami has zero leverage at the moment. Butler will almost assuredly get traded before the deadline Feb. 6. But it likely won’t be for the return that Miami hoped it would get for the superstar.