Jimmy Butler makes first comments on Heat tenure post-trade

Despite a six-year run filled with underdog success and memorable moments, the ending of the Jimmy Butler era has left a sour taste in the mouths of Heat Nation. From the fans, to executives, coaches and even the players, it was an unfortunate way for his Miami Heat tenure to conclude. 

Although there were plenty more rumors and outside noise involved, the rift between Butler and Miami was initiated by contract extension talks. The disgruntled star was looking for a shiny new max deal, but Pat Riley scoffed at the idea of committing those financial resources to an aging player.

And with the fact that he had struggled with availability and on-court consistency issues, that never helped his case. Butler never appeared in more than 64 games out of an 82-game season for the Heat.

Riley’s old-school approach to publicly challenge Butler to commit to playing more games did not work, to say the least. The former Heat legend recently appeared on a podcast in Dubai, where he opened up on his time with Miami for the first time since his Golden State Warriors press conference weeks ago.

Additionally, he expressed an excitement to come back to South Beach for his anticipated return as the Warriors are set to play at Kaseya Center on March 25.

“It’s all love,” Butler said. “I've been in the trenches with Miami for the past 6 seasons. The way they want to beat me, I promise you, it’s just as personal for me as well. Love those guys over there. Great organization.”

It was recently announced that Butler’s Miami return in March has been added as a nationally televised game, airing on TNT.

There will be plenty of smoke, drama and emotions all over that matchup. The Heat’s new All-Star and reigning 3-point Champion Tyler Herro made comments about his former co-star in a trending interview. Essentially, he was asked how he felt about newly acquired Andrew Wiggins wearing Butler’s former jersey No. 22.

Herro made sure to add that Butler is a “Heat Legend” but based on how the ending of his tenure transpired, he believes that “22 can be worn again.”

Regardless of the sloppy divorce and his messy trade demands in the end, Butler brought Miami back to heights that haven’t been seen in over a decade. He led the Heat to a pair of NBA Finals and one Eastern Conference finals appearance in a five-year span. On several occasions during that run, he single-handedly put the organization and his back to carry them to deep postseason success.

He is responsible for the biggest scoring playoff game in Heat history (56 points). During his time with the Heat, Butler was always an All-Star caliber player. But he elevated his game to tier-one superstar levels on the league’s brightest stage. 

His individual stats would rise significantly across the board once the playoffs began. Each of those underdog Finals runs came with the Heat as a fifth seed in 2020 and eighth seed in 2023. Most notably, Miami limped their way from the NBA play-in round all the way to the Championship series against the Denver Nuggets in that 2022-23 campaign.

However, some fans will use the difficult ending of Butler’s departure, along with the fact that he never got the job done fully, as a way to tarnish his entire tenure with the franchise.