Jimmy Butler has been making some pretty thinly veiled comments of late about his desire to traded from the Miami Heat, but now he’s made it official as Shams Charania and Brian Windhorst of ESPN report that Butler has “indicated to the Heat he wants the team to trade him” and that he is “open to playing anywhere other than Miami.”
According to ESPN, Butler will not provide a list of destinations as he feels he can make any team a contender and, notably, he says he will participate in all team activities and “do whatever the Heat ask of him” as the sides work toward a resolution.
“Participate” is pretty loose term, however. When Butler wanted out of Minnesota, his idea of participating in team activities was to basically burn the Timberwolves‘ organization to the ground by teaming up with the backups in a now infamously dramatic scrimmage to run the starters off the court.
On Thursday, Butler “participated” in Miami’s 128-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers by scoring nine points on six shots while spending a conspicuous amount of time standing in the corner like the disinterested kid who wants no part of the museum tour his parents forced him to go on.
Afterward, Butler was asked a handful of questions ranging from his sudden lack of offensive involvement to whether, point blank, there is any chance of fixing whatever has been broken between him and the Heat. His answers, even before the ESPN report broke, spoke for themselves.
Reporter: How did you feel about your performance and focus tonight?
Butler: “I felt great. I was focused. Felt like I did my job well. At least what my job is now.”
Reporter: When you say what your job is now, we’re not used to seeing you stand in the corner for extended periods like that. Is that a team approach that has cast you that way? And for you to be your best version of yourself, can that be your role and can you thrive to the best of your ability?
Butler: “It can be my role here. But that’s not what I’m used to. I haven’t been that since my first, second, third year in the league where I just went out there and just played defense. I compete. I guarded. I tried not to let my man score. That’s what I’m doing now.”
Reporter: [Heat] Coach [Eric Spoelstra] was in here saying he wants to get you more at the point and get you more activated, is that something that you’re amenable to?
Butler: “That ain’t gonna fix it.”
Reporter: What will fix it? What do you want to see happen to fix it?
Butler: “I want to see me get my joy back for playing basketball. Wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon. But I want to get my joy back. I’m happy here … off the court. But I want to be back to somewhere dominant. I want to hoop. I want to help this team win and right now I’m not doing that.”
Reporter: Can you get your joy back [in Miami] on the court?
Butler: “Probably not.”
So Butler clearly wants out of Miami. Again, we didn’t really need the report to know this, but now the veil has been completely lifted and all attention will turn to whether Pat Riley gives a damn what Butler wants.
Remember, Riley recently shut down the idea of the Heat trading Butler in an actual released statement, which concluded with the following: “Therefore, we will make it clear — we are not trading Jimmy Butler.”
ESPN’s report indicates that “Riley and Heat owner Micky Arison have met with Butler’s representation in recent days attempting to resolve the divide between the parties without success,” and that Butler hasn’t gotten over Riley basically publicly spanking him for saying the Heat would’ve beaten the Celtics in their first-round playoff series had he been healthy.
“If you’re not on the court playing, you should keep your mouth shut,” Riley said at the time.
The report also states that Miami had already engaged in preliminary talks with multiple teams regarding a Butler trade before the official demand came, but that none of those talks progressed and the Heat were showing “no urgency” to move Butler. We’ll see if that lack of urgency continues to be the case if and when Butler starts cranking up the heat, so to speak.
We know Butler is capable of making things very uncomfortable if he doesn’t get his way. He started that process in total earnest on Thursday, both on the court and in the press room. Now the question is whether the Heat will begin their process of becoming the latest team to fold at the feet of a superstar trade demand.
