Heat’s Pat Riley issues strong statement amid the speculation: ‘We are not trading Jimmy Butler’
Amid the ongoing trade speculation surrounding Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat, team president Pat Riley issued a strong statement in an effort to quiet the noise.
“We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches,” Riley said in a statement issued by the Heat on Thursday. “Therefore, we will make it clear — we are not trading Jimmy Butler.”
This comes just hours after Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and players were asked about the latest twist in the Butler situation ahead of Thursday night’s matchup against the Orlando Magic at Kia Center, as ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday that Butler prefers to be traded out of Miami.
“That’s just the deal,” Spoelstra said following the Heat’s shootaround session in Orlando. “You have to compartmentalize in this business. We want Jimmy here. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. And it’s just unfortunate that you have to control or deal with a lot of the noise on the outside. In terms of this morning, this was a pretty focused group coming off of the last game that we came [to Orlando].”
When Spoelstra was asked Thursday if Butler has ever come to him to express his desire to be traded out of Miami, he declined to answer the question.
“That’s all I’m going to talk about it,” Spoelstra said. “The more any of us talk about it, the more fuel it gets. It’s just really unfortunate that it just continues to build momentum outside of our building.”
Sources involved with Butler and the Heat both said that he has not formally requested a trade, but nobody has denied that he is unhappy. Butler’s relationship with the team has become somewhat strained in recent months.
But there has been nothing to suggest that a Butler trade is imminent and no indication that the Heat would cave to his preferences — even before Riley’s statement.
Asked how the team keeps this from becoming a distraction, Heat captain Bam Adebayo said Thursday: “You go out there and you win games. That’s how you keep the distractions out. You go out there and win games, do it together. They’ll handle everything behind closed doors.”
Asked if there’s a sense that Butler wants to be traded, Adebayo said: “Obviously, you have the business side of it. So at the end of the day, we’re all a family, we’re all in a brotherhood. So we’ll worry about the basketball games that we have to play.”
So how does the team deal with ESPN’s report that Butler prefers a trade? “How anybody else would deal with it,” Adebayo said. “It’s a holiday, we’re with our families, so we’re going to worry about our families and worry about everything else later.”
Butler, 35, will miss his third straight game on Thursday when the Heat takes on the Magic in Orlando for what the team has listed as “return to competition reconditioning. Butler, who missed the previous two games with a stomach illness and did not travel with the team to Orlando, is expected to rejoin the Heat ahead of Saturday’s game against the Hawks in Atlanta.
What’s it like to wake up on Christmas to the latest Jimmy Butler report?
“I didn’t really have a reaction, honestly,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “My focus is on my daughter and my son, and I haven’t really picked up my phone or worried about basketball until this morning. So, I don’t know.”
So how can the team compartmentalize the Butler trade speculation and basketball?
“Yeah. I mean, Jimmy is sick, I believe,” Herro said. “So he had to take a couple days off. If I was sick, I might need a couple days one day, too. So we’ll see what happens.”
Thursday marks the eighth game that Butler has missed in the Heat’s first 28 games of the season. He has missed 20 or more regular-season games three times in the past four seasons because of injuries and other reasons.
While Charania reported that Butler wants a trade, ESPN’s Bobby Marks said there’s a growing belief around the league that he will not be dealt before the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline.
According to multiple sources, Butler has been disappointed with the Heat primarily because Miami declined to give him a two-year, $113 million contract extension this past summer, a deal that would have run through the 2026-27 season. Butler was open to signing such a deal early in the negotiating window, but his mindset changed when the extension wasn’t immediately offered by the Heat.
The Heat could still offer Butler that extension until June 30, but Miami has given no indication that it will.
After the Heat did not quickly agree to an extension this past offseason, Butler decided to play out this season and exercise his option to become a free agent this upcoming summer. That remains his intention, sources said.
Butler entered Thursday averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting a career-best 55.2 percent from the field in 20 games this season. He leads the Heat in most advanced metrics this season, including estimated plus/minus, win shares and box plus/minus.
Riley’s hope is that his statement will end some of the trade speculation surrounding Butler. But it remains to be seen if Riley’s strong statement will be effective in accomplishing that with six weeks left until the league’s trade deadline.
IT’S OFFICIAL
In the wake of Dru Smith’s season-ending Achilles injury, the Heat formally announced the signings of forward Keshad Johnson and guard Isaiah Stevens on Thursday.
“It’s well earned, we’re really happy for them,” Spoelstra said of the news. “We congratulate them on that.”
The Heat promoted Johnson from a two-way contract to a standard contract to fill the 14th spot on its standard roster. After the Dec. 15 trade of center Thomas Bryant left the Heat with 13 players on standard deals, the Heat had until Sunday to add a 14th player and Johnson’s promotion fulfills that NBA requirement.
Johnson, who signed a two-year standard contract with the Heat, will be on a salary of $724,883 for the rest of the season. But he will count $1.3 million toward the luxury tax and aprons this season.
Johnson’s new contract includes a $2 million team option for next season.
Johnson, who went undrafted out of Arizona this year and impressed with the Heat’s summer league team this past offseason, has thrived with the Heat’s G League affiliate this season. He has averaged 21.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 54.9 percent from the field and 39.6 percent from three-point range in 13 games for the Sioux Falls Skyforce this season.
Johnson, 23, has appeared in just three games with the Heat this season.
Stevens, 24, now steps into the two-way contract slot left open by Johnson’s promotion to a standard deal.
Two-way contracts do not count toward the salary cap, luxury tax or aprons and do not come with playoff eligibility. As part of Stevens’ two-way contract, he’s eligible to be on the Heat’s active roster for 31 games this regular season and the rest of his playing time must come in the G League.
Stevens, who went undrafted out of Colorado State this year, was a summer league standout for the Heat this past offseason and has played well for the Heat’s G League affiliate. He leads the G League with 10.8 assists per game this season.
With the Heat signing Stevens to a two-way contract, he now can’t be signed away by another NBA team.
After Thursday’s signings of Johnson and Stevens, the Heat’s roster includes 14 players on standard contracts (one under the NBA maximum of 15 players) and the maximum of three players on two-way contracts. The three players currently signed by the Heat to two-way deals are Josh Christopher, Dru Smith and Stevens.
This story was originally published December 26, 2024 at 12:09 PM.
