WHEN TIME-OFF JIMMY OVERWHELMS PLAYOFF JIMMY, WHO REALLY WANTS BUTLER?
The beauty and bane of Butler is that he never grew up, and after angering Pat Riley in Miami, his next NBA team will deal with more offbeat moods that can create brilliance or a seven-game suspension
As seen with people who sit in the sun too long, Heat Culture wanes on the system. Jimmy Butler arrived in Miami extolling bossman Pat Riley as “the godfather” and said of coach Erik Spoelstra in the NBA Finals: “He is incredible and phenomenal, all of those words — great coach. Sometimes it's not even a speech. It could just be a look. And it's like, ‘You know what? I'm running through a wall for this guy.’ ’’
These days, Butler doesn’t even try. Riley, a demanding cuss from a previous century, has suspended him for seven games thanks to “multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team.” Butler is a demon who is beloved when he thrives as “Playoff Jimmy,” but he’s also a crux who is loathed when he doesn’t care — which has happened before in a career marred by his discontent and practice anger. There are times when he behaves and performs like a Hall of Famer. There are times when he can’t stay happy with any team, including the Heat, who cringe when they don’t compete for championships and tend to turn on one-time companions.
“Through his actions and statements, he has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team," the Heat said in a statement Friday night. “Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”
By stepping on Riley, Butler has ruined a love affair that won’t end with a statue outside the arena. He will be traded to another team that will like him and then will hate him. Will it be the Dallas Mavericks, where Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving could explode any chemistry test? Will it be the Golden State Warriors, where he’ll find love with Steph Curry and find madness in Draymond Green? Will it be the Phoenix Suns, where Kevin Durant has grown tired of superteams? Those who wonder if Dwyane Wade’s statue was done with terrible execution — because he tussled with Riley at times? — needn’t worry about Butler.
That bust is in Biscayne Bay.
“I want to see me getting my joy back playing basketball. Wherever that may be, we'll find out here pretty soon,” Butler said Thursday night after a lax effort in a loss to Indiana. “I’m happy here off the court, but I want to be back to somewhat dominant. I want to hoop and I want to help this team win, and right now I'm not doing it.”
Will he ever find the joy in Miami? “Probably not,” he said.
Even Butler knows he can’t mess with Riley without hardass consequences. He wanted a contract extension that never happened, costing him $113 million over two years. This is his final guaranteed season with the Heat, and last spring in the playoffs, when he said he’d have beaten the Boston Celtics if he was healthy, Riley clotheslined him. “If you're not on the court playing, you should keep your mouth shut,” he said.
Now 35, Butler will be a secondary player at his next stop. He is no Doncic. He is no Curry. Will he cooperate or raise more hell? Might Riley pulverize him and deal him to the Charlotte Hornets? Forget about thoughts of any breakup/makeup — both sides are too stubborn. Butler continues to score and shoot well, but his usage rate is down and might indicate Riley prefers a younger star to team with Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. The desire from Golden State would be Jonathan Kuminga, who did not reach a contract extension and could be traded.
LeBron James? Oh, he’s made a call to Jeanie Buss. The Lakers don’t have enough to relinquish beyond Austin Reaves and the mouth of coach JJ Redick, who is picking fights with Charles Barkley about NBA-ripping on “Inside the NBA.” In the playoffs, you wouldn’t want to be at Crypto.com Arena when the Lakers lose and James is ordering Butler down the freeway to the Clippers.
The beauty of Jimmy Butler is that he never grew up. That also is his flaw. “Obviously, he’s frustrated. He feels like he was standing in the corner,” Adebayo said. “He’s got a lot of things going on in his corner. For us, keep the main thing the main thing, like our coach always tells us. We play to win, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Awaiting a six-game road trip, the Heat are 17-15 and in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. They can’t touch Boston, Cleveland or New York and are only three games above 10th place, where Chicago holds the final play-in spot. The next team for Butler will be his fifth in nine years. Playoff Jimmy?
Meet Time-off Jimmy.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.