The Jimmy Butler situation in Miami exploded this week.
Butler has been ramping up the conversation without trying to force a fracture over the last few weeks.
The reports went from “he’d be open to a trade,” to “he’d prefer a trade.” He started taking weird shots on the court. Then he started saying he didn’t know if he wanted to stay with the Heat.
He started taking wild shots and dogging it. He was a minus-27 in a blowout to the Pacers. Postgame, everything erupted. He said he wanted to go somewhere he could get his joy back.
The trade request was reported by Shams Charania shortly after.
The Heat suspension of Butler came a day later.
This is somehow a “You come at the King, you best not miss” situation on both sides.
Butler wants his money. The Heat won’t give it to a player of his age with his inconsistency at this point in his career or their arc.
So Butler did what he does. He created the mayhem necessary to get what he wants, or so he thinks. After all it worked in Chicago.
And Minnesota.
And Philadelphia.
And now Miami.
So now the trade machine posts and proposal posts will ramp up. Podcasts will argue for and against various deals. How many picks? Which picks? The young prospect? The expiring contract?
Hey, here’s an idea:
No one should trade for Jimmy Butler
No one. Not the Warriors. Not the Rockets. Not the Mavericks or the Nets or the Brisbane Bandits or the Guangdong Southern Tigers.
Maybe the Globetrotters, but I don’t think they have the $50 million per year you need.
I’ll get back to the bigger questions, but there are actual tangible roster reasons for teams not to do it.
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Warriors: You let Klay Thompson go because it was his time. Despite the fact that he still knew how to play with Draymond Green and Stephen Curry, the decision was made not to invest the money in a player of Thompson’s age.
Butler’s been better than Thompson. But Thompson’s been more available, more consistent, and doesn’t need the ball in his hands.
If anything, Thompson’s game may age a little better given the beating Butler has been through during his Thibs era.
Butler and Draymond might fit perfectly together. But if they don’t? Kerr might get the most out Butler. But if he doesn’t?
Phoenix Suns: Butler for Beal makes some sense. Butler’s been more available than Beal, and most of the metrics are better. But you have all that future pick equity. You honestly need to retain tradeability to get you out of the jam your trades have put you in.
The Suns brought in Mike Budenholzer to stabilize the team’s schemes and get them to take more threes. What does Butler do in pursuit of that? You return to mid-range mania, which puts a significant ceiling on your offense, even with the talent.
KD and Butler would get along great, but you’re risking two guys who have moved a combined six times in their careers.
Rockets: League sources have maintained that while Houston had looked at veteran stars headed into the year, they’ve shifted with the emergence of the young core and are looking for a star who matches their timeline.
*Cough* De’Aaron Fox, *cough*.
Mavericks: Dallas can’t make the money work. If they could make the money work, do you want to put Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler on the same team, despite Irving having been a great teammate and kept a low profile in Dallas so far?
Brooklyn: Why do the Nets want to do the deal now instead of waiting to sign him this summer, after they get a top-four pick (or acquiring another star with him in free agency)? What’s the upside of trading for him now?
Cavaliers: I know this sounds crazy; they’re the No. 1 seed in the league. These are the kinds of teams that look to make these kinds of trades, though. The Cavs are known to be looking for one more wing and Jimmy Butler is certainly one more wing.
But how do you keep who you are while adding him? Why would you mess with the chemistry that way? There are other wings in the universe.
Grizzlies: Memphis tried to move for Pascal Siakam for over a year. They’re open to trading in their wide array of young players. The Grizzlies are one of the few teams who reportedly haven't said "no" to the idea of adding Butler.
Can you pay Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson, and Desmond Bane … and Jimmy Butler? Do you want to? Jimmy’s attitude definitely fits Memphis’ style, but do you want to add his volatility to that roster?
Lakers: Maybe this makes the most sense. Butler is the level of a player you would part with their few remaining assets for. Butler can share the 1B role with LeBron. The Lakers can pay Butler for a few years to finish out the AD era.
LeBron retires to ease the tax bill and open up space, and you roll out AD and Butler until the wheels fall off.
But what are you putting around them and how are you putting them around them?
(Also, the money doesn’t work.)
Do you see the trend? It doesn’t make sense for the teams that can trade for him and the teams it makes sense for can’t trade for him.
But let’s step back from that.
The move that sparked the Heat’s suspension of Butler was his criticism of his role and how he was being used, effectively criticizing Erik Spoelstra.
Spo. You come for Spo, you best not miss. The Heat took that personally.
If you’re a guy who will turn on Spo, who backed Butler and shielded him from criticism for years … who won’t you turn on?
What GM is safe if Pat Riley can’t maintain control of the situation? What coach will he respect if he doesn’t respect Spo enough to keep him out of his squabble? What locker room can handle him if Heat Culture can’t?
And the answer can reasonably be that his approach is entirely generated by his contract and if a team is willing to pay him, those problems go away.
But do they? Things have not been copacetic in Miami day in and day out, but Butler was just good enough for the Heat to justify it, and Miami was good enough at covering it.
Jimmy is Jimmy.
And Jimmy’s not worth it.
You have to be exactly as good as Butler was in 2020-2023 with outlier, inconsistently elite playoff games to justify it.
He’s no longer that good.
I don’t know how the Jimmy Butler saga ends, but wherever he ends up, that team will have made the wrong choice.