Jimmy Butler left the Philadelphia 76ers and joined the Miami Heat during the summer of 2019. While there were a variety of speculated reasons why he left, it can be assured that he made the right decision to join the Heat.
However, one positive experience the Miami Heat star had in Philly was his time playing with Joel Embiid. The two got along well and enjoyed playing together.
Recently, Joel Embiid expressed his regret over losing Jimmy Butler to Miami. In light of the Ben Simmons trade demand escalating to a tense situation, Embiid feels that, perhaps, the 76ers let the wrong player go.
Embiid suggests that the 76ers front office made decisions to accommodate Simmons when he said:
"“We’ll say that, even going back to the reason we signed Al. We got rid of Jimmy, which I still think it was a mistake, just to make sure [Simmons] needed the ball in his hands. That’s the decision they made. Like I said, it is surprising.”"
The Miami Heat certainly value Jimmy Butler and have been all the better for his presence. Obviously, Joel Embiid feels the same away about the Heat’s lead guy.
The 76ers have struggled to find a reliable closer for several years now. Jimmy Butler filled that role, but the 76ers hoped that putting the ball in the hands of Simmons would allow the Australian point forward to take over late in games.
Instead, Ben Simmons has shied away from the moment, hardly taking any shots in fourth quarters of the seven game series against the Atlanta Hawks in last year’s playoffs.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler has been thriving with and for the Miami Heat. He led them to an NBA Finals appearance in 2020 and will help lead them to more success this year with a talented roster assembled.
During his time in Philly, Butler questioned Simmons’ mental makeup and now the signs indicate that he was right all along. Ben Simmons is incredibly talented, but is all of this accommodation worth it?
Joel Embiid no longer thinks so. The 76ers have not had any playoff success to rationalize keeping Simmons for all of the accommodations they have had to make.
One of their biggest regrets as a franchise will be losing Jimmy Butler. Embiid certainly misses him.
If Embiid wants to restart “The Process,” Pat Riley would, probably, love to reunite him with Butler… in Miami.