SAN FRANCISCO — The Miami Heat were at Chase Center on Tuesday night.

Jimmy Butler wasn’t.

The temperamental superstar’s feud with his organization reached a boiling point in recent days, with Butler’s demands to be traded resulting in a suspension handed down by the team that just so happened to coincide with its six-game swing up and down the West Coast.

By the time Miami returns home, could Butler be on his way out west?

General manager Mike Dunleavy is evaluating the Warriors’ options ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, and it’s difficult to think of a more enticing possibility than the six-time All-Star and playoff showman. Steph Curry needs a sidekick, and who better than a dynamic scoring wing with a reputation for lockdown defense?

Well, it’s complicated.

Butler owns a home in Southern California, and he has reportedly singled out the Warriors as one of his preferred destinations. But the interest isn’t necessarily mutual. According to reports, the Warriors’ front office prefers other options, such as Bulls center Nikola Vucevic and Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith.

While Butler, 35, has taken a backseat to Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro in his 14th NBA season, he is still scoring 17.6 points per game on the highest efficiency of his career — 55.2% from the field). However, the Warriors aren’t alone in their hesitations. The questions regarding Butler’s availability, contract and motivation have made him a toxic asset.

Butler previously forced his way to Miami, and now he is under contract for $48 million this season with a $52 million player option for 2025-26. And while he has a well-earned reputation for crunchtime heroics, he hasn’t played more than 64 regular-season games since 2018-19. Before things boiled over this season, he earned a public rebuke last spring from Heat president Pat Riley, who said, “if you’re not on the court playing, you should keep your mouth shut.”

On Tuesday, Brian Windhorst reported on ESPN that, so far, teams have offered “poo-poo platter” in exchange for Butler, who isn’t expected to sign an extension anywhere he is traded. Chris Haynes, of Clutch Points, reported that certain teams have been advised not to acquire him.

Butler’s gambit has backed Riley and the Heat into a corner. In the span of two weeks, Riley went from issuing an unprecedented public pronouncement that Miami was not even listening to offers for Butler to suspending him for “conduct detrimental to the team” while backtracking from his initial show of support.

“Through his actions and statements, he has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team,” the Heat wrote in a statement Friday. “Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”

Last time we heard from Butler was after Miami’s loss to Indiana last week, and he said he had lost his “joy” for the game. Asked if he thought he could find it again in his current situation, he responded succinctly: “Probably not.”

“I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball, and wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon,” he told reporters.

Few players have a stronger reputation for inspiring joy on the court than Curry, but it’s worth wondering if Butler is worth the trouble.

As the Warriors hover around .500, less than a month from the trade deadline, that is what Dunleavy and his associates will be deliberating.

Originally Published: January 7, 2025 at 6:37 PM PST

Florida State and Miami will play their first matchup of the 2024-25 season on Wednesday, but the opposing sideline won’t feature Jim Larranaga for the first time since the 2010-11 season. Larranaga shocked all of college basketball by stepping down as Miami’s head coach on December 26th after getting off to a 4-8 start with losses to Mount Saint Mary’s and Charleston Southern.

Leonard Hamilton was asked about Larranaga’s decision to step down in an ACC Zoom call on Monday morning and ahead of Wednesday’s game.

READ MORE: Former FSU Star Jalen Ramsey Makes Decisive Miami Dolphins Career Statement

“Jim has demonstrated that he’s a class act. He’s a guy who thinks things through,” Coach Hamilton started. “I’m sure the decision didn’t come as a knee-jerk reaction to anything particular. I’m sure it came with a lot of thought over a longer period of time and for him to have the courage to stick with his convictions and what he believed is the best thing to do, not only for his team and for the university, players that have played for him before (and it) is to be tremendously respected. I talked to very few coaches who really don’t feel some of the similar things that seems to have been on Jim’s mind. It’s just where we are. I don’t see anything coming in the future that will eliminate the reasons why he made the decision that he did, and I think I have a lot of respect for him for how he did it.”

Coach Larranaga cited things like exhaustion and the ever-changing NIL market as reasons for stepping down. Coach Hamilton is in his own hot water with NIL after six former players sued him last week over alleged promised NIL money that was never delivered. So Hamilton can relate to some of the issues Larranaga was dealing with.

Larranaga isn’t the only ACC coach to make a shocking untimely retirement, as Virginia’s former coach Tony Bennett stepped down about a month before the season started. Leonard Hamilton was already the longest-tenured head coach in the ACC by a mile with 23 seasons in Tallahassee, with Clemson’s Brad Brownell in second with 15 seasons, but the third-longest tenured coach in the ACC after Larranaga’s and Bennett’s retiring is now Kevin Keatts at NC State, who started in 2017.

Florida State and Miami will play in Coral Gables at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

READ MORE: FSU Basketball Picks Up First ACC Win of Season, Beats Syracuse 90-74

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The Miami Heat had a rough week.

This week, the Heat slipped to No. 14 in the NBA power rankings. Last week, they were No. 9.

The Jimmy Butler trade saga reached its tipping point when Butler revealed playing in Miami ruined his joy for the game lately. The team issued a seven-game suspension to Butler for his actions. Following his comments, the Heat had their worst loss of the season Saturday against the Utah Jazz, losing by 36 points at home.

In an article posted to NBA.com, a takeaway on the team’s play was described. Here’s what longtime writer John Schuhmann wrote:

“Butler returned for two games and registered a usage rate of just 13.2% (ninth on the team) as the Heat split games against the Pelicans and Pacers”, the article said. “He didn’t play in the fourth quarter either night and then said that he doesn’t think he can rediscover his on-court ‘joy’ in Miami. So the Heat suspended him for seven games (through their six-game trip that begins Monday) and said they’d listen to trade offers.”

Schuhmann also added, “Butler’s teammates’ response was their worst loss of the season, a game in which they trailed the Jazz by 43 points. They’re now 5-6 without Butler and have been outscored by 2.2 points per 100 possessions in his 678 total minutes off the floor.”

The Heat are 17-16. They sit with the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. They remain two games back from the No. 4 seed Orlando Magic. They are 13 games back from the No. 1 seed, held by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With the Butler trade rumors looming over the organization, the Heat are set to embark on a six-game road trip. They will play four of those games this week. The team starts the week Monday with a back-to-back in Sacramento and Golden State. Thursday, the team travels to Utah before rounding out the week in Portland on Saturday.

Sean Jordan is a contributor to Miami Heat On Sports Illustrated. He can be reached at sjorda06@syr.edu.

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