Despite an ugly breakup, the Miami Heat will honor Jimmy Butler with a tribute video when he returns to Kaseya Center as a member of the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.
Butler spoke with reporters after Warriors practice in Miami on Monday and tried to minimize the gravity of Tuesday night’s reunion.
“Yeah, I’ll watch,” Butler said when asked about a tribute video. “If they have one, if they don’t. It makes no difference. It really doesn’t.” The Heat clarified that they would have a tribute video shortly after.
Tuesday will mark Butler’s first return to Kaseya Center, and his first game against the Heat, since he was traded to the Warriors on Feb. 6. The long and messy breakup is well-documented.
It includes team president Pat Riley calling out Butler for his lack of availability last spring, a contract extension that was never offered, a fiery press conference in January in which Butler claimed he could no longer find “joy” on the court and three suspensions over the next month related to Butler on and off-court behavior.
Jimmy Butler claims he knew for a long time that he was leaving Miami.
Some have wondered if things would have been different had the Heat offered the maximum two-year, $113 million extension last offseason.
When asked about that scenario on Monday, Butler’s answer was simple.
“No.”
So, then, Butler knew in the summer that he planned on leaving the Heat?
“I mean, pretty much, yes,” Butler said. “I knew what direction, how it was going. Nobody ever asked me, though.”
Butler hasn’t been on the record talking very much about his exit from the Heat, but that hasn’t stopped outsiders from pointing to a similar pattern. It’s true that Butler’s exits, whether from the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers or Heat, tend to be on the messy side.
“I’m always painted as the bad guy. Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve always been the problem,” Butler said. “So we’ll take it. I don’t got nothing to say. I’m not mad at being the bad guy. It’s all the way that everything is portrayed.”
ICYMI: Here’s more from Butler’s sitdown with The Athletic ahead of the big night.