Ranking the 5 best players on the Heat if Damian Lillard trade happens

Best players on Miami Heat after Damian Lillard trade, No. 2: Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler has been the biggest ambassador of Heat culture over the last four seasons. In his 4 seasons with the Heat, Butler has averaged 21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.9 assists on 50/27/85 splits. Shockingly, he’s only made two All-Star teams in those four years and made three All-NBA Teams.

Most impressive is Butler’s ability to ramp up his level of play in the postseason. In the playoffs, he averaged 24.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.7 assist and 1.9 steals, on 48/34/83 splits in his 4 playoff runs on the Heat.

There has always been a point in the playoff run where Butler seems to run out of gas, because he hasn’t had a reliable co-star throughout the playoff run. This is where Damian Lillard will help out the Heat in a massive way. More importantly, Jimmy will be the second-best player on the Heat.

As mentioned before, Butler’s numbers in the regular season are nowhere near his numbers in the playoffs. It is more than likely that Butler only goes 75 percent throughout the regular season so he can ramp it up in the playoffs, which is why he’s only made two All-Star teams in the last four seasons.

Based on his interviews during this playoff run, the only thing that matters to Jimmy Butler is getting the win. There have been multiple times where we see Butler take a back seat to a player who had the hot hand, whether it was Caleb Martin, Kevin Love, Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, or Gabe Vincent. In a scenario with Damian Lillard being on the team, this is a possibility.