Miami Heat: Who actually won the Jimmy Butler sign and trade?

The Miami Heat will enter this season with a star player in his prime for the first time in a few seasons. With time to reflect on the actual trade though, who won?

The Miami Heat have always been a team that has had sort of a magic trick or magician’s allure to them. Specifically, this reference highlights the ability of the Heat to always be able to pull a rabbit out of their hat at the most opportune times.

Perhaps this phenomenon is more of a Pat Riley thing than the Miami Heat as a whole, but nevertheless, he has done it countless times as the leader of this Heat franchise. While there are quite a few great examples that could be used here, Pat Riley was at the forefront of the deal that brought Shaquille O’Neal to the Heat en route to the franchise’s first title. Although Shaq was slightly beyond his prime, he was still a dominant big man in the league and obviously capable of being a key contributor on a title team.

It was also Riley that brought the Big 3 together in South Beach, another marvelous display of wizardry that continued to shine a light on Riley’s basketball intelligence. His most recent exploit is how he told the world that he was still himself, how he wouldn’t retire until he won at least one more title, and then how he subsequently landed that big fish that he also told us he would be hunting. The moby dick to Riley’s Ahab in this scenario was Jimmy Butler.

Although the deal seemed as though it might not happen for a short while in the beginning, being very touch and go upon initial reporting based on transactional snafus with the fighting Mark Cubans in Dallas, Riley was able to get it done. After it was all said and done, it was a deal that sent Josh Richardson to the Philadelphia 76ers, Maurice Harkless from the Trail Blazers to the L.A. Clippers, he who is not to be named to the Trail Blazers, and brought Meyers Leonard to the Heat from the Blazers. The burning question here though, who won that trade?

The first thing that has to be noted is that every team benefitted greatly from the trade, albeit a situation where everyone couldn’t get exactly what they wanted. The 6ers were able to land an elite 3 and D guy in Richardson, who isn’t quite Jimmy Butler on offense but offers everything he does on defense, while the Clippers landed another interchangeable,  versatile, and skilled piece with size in Harkless to slot alongside Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

The Blazers were able to secure a big man to hold down the paint while they wait for Jusuf Nurkic to return from that horrific leg injury and possibly even after he returns to pair with Nurkic. When it comes to the Miami Heat though, they won the trade.

While they lost Richardson, which is a huge negative based on how he got to where he is as a player and how endeared he had become to this organization and fanbase, it was worth losing him if it meant landing Butler. The sneaky great part about the trade though was that not only were they able to get from up under a particular seven-footer that seemed to be toxic at times, but they were able to acquire another seven-footer with a ton more skills and potential in exchange.

While it isn’t as complex as some would have you to believe, including the soliloquy that led up to the revelation in this piece, it does hit a bit different when it’s laid out as it was here. That is why the Miami Heat won that whole trade scenario as it took place.