Miami Heat president Pat Riley says team will not trade Jimmy Butler
If Jimmy Butler wants a trade, the Miami Heat have no plans to make him happy.
Heat president Pat Riley spoke out Thursday in a rare move to address the rumors, saying the team has no plans to trade Butler. It’s a clear sign that, if necessary, the team will be willing to let Butler leave as a free agent and get nothing in return.
“We normally do not comment on rumors, but all of this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches,” Riley said in a press release distributed by the team. “That’s why we’ll make it clear: we don’t trade Jimmy Butler.”
The Heat play in Orlando on Thursday. Butler did not fly with the team to Orlando on Wednesday evening and his intentions for future games also seem a bit unclear.
Butler has not asked the Heat for a trade, but ESPN reported Wednesday, citing sources it did not name, that the six-time All-Star wants a trade before the league’s Feb. 6 deadline and is open to joining teams like Phoenix, Golden State, Houston and Dallas.
“You have to compartmentalize in this business,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Thursday during the team’s morning shootaround in Orlando. “We want Jimmy here. There are no ifs, ands or buts. And it’s just a shame that you have to manage or deal with a lot of outside noise.”
Butler, to be fair, has stirred up some of the noise.
The primary colors of his reportedly favorite teams are orange, yellow, red and blue. Butler’s hair, perhaps not coincidentally, has been colored those colors occasionally in recent weeks.
“I actually like it,” Butler said earlier this month when asked about his connection to trade talks and speculation. “It’s good that it’s being talked about. I don’t think there’s such a thing as bad publicity – to a point.”
If Miami doesn’t trade Butler, it would risk losing him for nothing as a free agent next summer. He is making $49 million this season and has a player option for $52 million next season.
Riley’s statement is a new development in a long-running saga surrounding Butler’s future with the Heat, a saga that began gathering steam in May when Riley was non-committal about giving Butler a reprieve for the summer.
Butler is eligible for an extension that guarantees him $113 million for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons. But he’s 35 and has missed an average of one in four games in his Heat tenure.
“It’s a big decision on our part to deploy these types of resources unless you have someone who is going to be there every night and available,” Riley said in May. “That’s the truth.”
Butler twisted an ankle in Miami’s loss to Oklahoma City on Friday, but missed the remainder of that game and the next two Heat games — last Saturday in Orlando and Monday against Brooklyn — due to illness, not the ankle, which was the reason was mentioned.
Butler has helped Miami reach the NBA Finals twice during his Heat tenure. He is averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists this season.