Miami Heat president Pat Riley has stood pat.
Riley unequivocally ended the Jimmy Butler trade rumors with a strong statement on December 26 as the Heat sat in sixth place in the Eastern Conference after Christmas.
“We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear – We are not trading Jimmy Butler,” Riley wrote in a statement on December 26.
Riley’s definitive statement quelled the Butler trade rumors, which dominated the past two weeks.
On Christmas, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Butler “prefers a trade out of Miami ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline.”
Charania doubled down on his latest report on the developing situation in Miami involving Butler on the “NBA Countdown,” citing things began to unravel in the offseason when the Heat did not offer their franchise a star contract extension.
“They bypassed that did not extend him, and they lean more into their young, rising core — Bam Adebayo, an All-Star, and Tyler Herro,” Charania said. “And over the last three years, Jimmy Butler has wanted the Heat to go get him some help in that roster. They just have not been able to land that player. They’ve gone after Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving. They have not been able to land that next big fish with Jimmy Butler. The writing, in a lot of ways, is on the wall for the Heat and for Jimmy Butler.”
Jimmy Butler ‘Caught Off Guard’
Butler had not requested a trade, according to a report from The Miami Herald a day before Riley issued the statement, “but nobody has denied that he is unhappy.”
The report also added Butler was disappointed when the Heat did not extend him in the offseason and that he was “caught off guard” when Riley publicly reprimanded him in the offseason for his smack talk on the eventual champion Boston Celtics and their rival New York Knicks during last postseason.
“A source said that Butler was caught off guard when Heat president Pat Riley, during a May news conference, scolded him for saying that “Boston would be at home” and “New York damn sure would be [expletive] at home” if Butler had been healthy for Miami’s five-game first-round playoff loss against the Celtics, which he missed because of a knee injury,” The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang wrote.
“For him to say that, I thought, ‘Is that Jimmy trolling, or is that Jimmy serious?’” Riley said on May 6. “If you’re not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut.”
‘No Shenanigans’
Despite the reported unhappiness of Butler, the Heat star remained professional.
He did not publicly resented Riley’s May comments.
“No shenanigans,” Butler told reporters during the team’s Media Day in September.
“I always want to hoop, always want to compete with my guys,” Butler added. “I hear him (Riley).”
This season, Butler (18.5 points) is the Heat’s second-leading scorer behind rising star Tyler Herro (23.9) and is shooting a career-best 55.2% overall.
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