Miami Heat: Will Jimmy Butler Remain the Leading Scorer Next Year?

Should the Miami Heat roll with Jimmy Butler as the primary scoring option?

With satisfyingly mutual interest, the Heat organization will be content on building around both Butler and four-year big man Bam Adebayo. However, that commitment to Butler has drawn potential concerns as to how Miami addresses their future.

The primary objective is to build a team capable of winning in Butler’s prime, and there’s no question that he can lead them there. However, can it still be done with Butler as the go-to scoring option?

On many occasions, Butler has taken over games while in a Miami Heat uniform, and it’s been in ways that we’ve seen the league’s best do it. Despite missing 20 games in the 2020-21 season, Butler scored 20-plus points in 25 games, and at least 30 in five separate outings.

As a player that can attack virtually any style of defense when he’s aggressive, he remains one of the toughest covers in the league.

However, both Butler and coach Erik Spoelstra have iterated in the past that the five-time All-Star doesn’t value box-score accolades. An area that Butler certainly couldn’t care less about is leading the team in scoring.

Butler wants to win, and it’s a formula that’s been contagious ever since he’s been in Miami. While it’s an uncommon characteristic to have as an All-Star, it’s important to realize that once you become a top 30 scorer in the NBA, that threshold of responsibility must be accounted for at some point.