After a painful season for the Miami Heat, filled with more downs than ups, their season has come to a close. Following their first-round sweep at the hands of the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, the team conducted its end-of-season exit interviews on Wednesday. Unsurprisingly, they addressed a lingering elephant in the room.
Jimmy Butler’s messy trade demands to be shipped out of Miami took over their entire season.
In what was supposed to be plenty of hype around “contract year Jimmy” going into the new year, the Heat received the exact opposite of a motivated Butler. Instead, they quickly saw a disgruntled Butler.
Despite the writing on the wall, the partnership between each side brought the franchise their most successful stretch of basketball in a decade.
A pair of NBA Finals berths and an Eastern Conference finals appearance in a five-year span brought underdog vibes in winning fashion. The Heat hoped to gear up for at least one last run, but Butler had other plans.
His focus on this season quickly shifted from winning to securing his final NBA payday.
Once he realized the Heat’s reluctance to put that max contract extension on the table for arguably the third greatest player in franchise history, he wasted no time in displaying the disrespect he felt and forcing himself out of town.
Coach Erik Spoelstra, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro all acknowledged the Butler drama that took place in their exit interviews.
When coach Erik Spoelstra was asked how Butler’s saga changed the course of this season, he acknowledged the run they had together, but also seemed ready to move on.
"There's second-guessing on what we could have done better to right the ship in turbulent waters," Spoelstra told reporters. "It's not as if that would have moved the needle for us to be first in the conference. That's unrealistic.
“It was a good five-year run," he continued. "When things end, oftentimes they end not as loudly as this. But it ends where there’s something. We all feel like it didn’t have to go to that level. We have clarity now. We have turned the page. We are moving on.”
Heat captain Bam Adebayo mentioned how the situation helped him grow as a leader for the team.
“Trying to get everyone on the same page through the storm. You still have to figure out how to win," Adebayo said. “This organization could’ve let go of the rope a long time ago, going through what we went through this season. And that's one thing I love about this organization: That we're always trying to win, no matter what, no matter what situation you are in.”
Tyler Herro also suggested that all the trade rumors were a distraction, stating that “I think, ultimately, it was an overall wondering about when it is going to end. At the end of the day, (basketball) is what we wanted to worry about.”
Unfortunately, just basketball was the least of Miami’s worries this season. They played around a full month’s stretch without clarity surrounding the team’s star player.
Instead of a commitment to winning, Butler’s priority this season was elsewhere. Despite all the other noise and rumors that circulated throughout the saga, he wanted to get paid. And the 35 year-old star wasn’t shy in displaying his frustrations along the way.
Those frustrations included essentially quitting on his team on the court.
Once NBA insider Shams Charania reported on Christmas Day that Butler would be open to play elsewhere, it only went downhill from there. It seemed like just a matter of time before everything boiled over.
The Heat were reluctant to invest in an aging star that struggled with availability throughout his entire six-season run here. The writing was always on the wall.
Miami did all they could to get through Butler’s drama, but it wasn’t enough to salvage their already lost season. Now everyone involved is eager to turn the page on the tumultuous chapter.