Pat Riley emphatically tells Jimmy Butler to 'keep your mouth shut' over trolling Celtics, Knicks

During the 2010-11 NBA season, the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat developed an intense rivalry while battling for supremacy in the Eastern Conference. Miami's "Heatles" got the better of Boston during a four-year stretch before the rivalry cooled down and both teams entered a rebuilding period.

Since 2020, the Heat have rekindled a postseason rivalry with the Celtics. The two teams have faced each other in the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, including three Eastern Conference Finals matchups.

Just as the Heat and Celtics were on course for another collision in the first round of the 2023-24 NBA Playoffs, Miami superstar Jimmy Butler suffered an MCL injury during the Play-In Tournament. Without Butler, the Celtics cruised past the toothless Heat, winning the series 4-1.

After the Heat were eliminated from contention, Butler recorded a video saying the Heat would have beaten the Celtics and the Knicks if he had been healthy.

"If I was playing, Boston would be at home," Butler said. "New York damn sure would be at home."

Pat Riley was upset about Jimmy Butler's recent comments

Heat president Pat Riley didn't seem too pleased with Butler's comments during his season-ending press conference on Monday.

"For him to say that, I thought, 'Is that Jimmy trolling or is that Jimmy serious?'" Riley said. "If you’re not on the court playing against Boston, if you’re not on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut in your criticism of those teams."

Butler still has two years remaining on his current contract, along with a player option for roughly $52 million for the 2025-26 season. Riley claimed that the team had not discussed any prospect of offering the 34-year-old star a contract extension, but he also shut down the idea of trading him, per The Athletic.

Butler has struggled to stay healthy and hasn't played more than 64 regular season games with the Heat. Riley said the six-time All Star "may need to make some changes in his overload routine," per Bally reporter Will Manso.

Still, with an offseason of contract negotiations looming ahead, Riley heaped praise onto Butler.

"Who moves the needle the most on our team is Jimmy," Riley said. "Jimmy moves the needle the most. He’s an incredible player. What I said at the beginning about change is he’s got to give it some thought himself for this team to be what he wants it to be, and what I want it to be, and [team owner] Micky [Arison] and everybody else. This five-year window, we’ve been pretty successful. We haven’t won the chip and I think that bothers everybody."

In the past five seasons with Butler, the Miami Heat have made two NBA Finals appearances and reached the Eastern Conference finals three times.