Jimmy Butler is a Toxic Ex
I said it, and I meant it
Jimmy Butler has probably made his last NBA Finals. It was incredibly unlikely and impressive for him to make the two that he did, twice reviving what came to be known as the Zombie Heat and leading them just short of a title.
That did a lot for Butler’s public standing. It got easier to forgive the way he waxed and waned through the regular season, for one.
At the same time, from the narrative angle of the disgruntled NBA star, it also got much easier to forgive his dramatic exits from Philadelphia and Minnesota, because A.) he had real success in Miami, and B.) he was proven right about those other two franchises’ chances at winning. By which we really mean: he was proven right that the other stars in those cities (Embiid and Simmons in Philly, and Wiggins and KAT in Minnesota) weren’t good enough. So there’s our second Ben Simmons stray in as many weeks. Happy New Year, everybody!
As the last few weeks have played out in Miami though, the mood isn’t quite so forgiving anymore. It’s a little more forget-y. As in, let’s forget the remaining year on your contract and get you on your way.
It would be generous to call this divorce antagonistic. Because, as he has proven in prior breakups, especially with Minnesota, Jimmy Butler is a toxic ex. Miami thought they could change him, and hey, you know what? With time to heal, they’ll look back on the years they had together and smile.
But right now, Pat Riley and the Heat just want him out of the house. They took the somewhat drastic step of suspending him 7 games for “conduct detrimental to the team,” a purposely vague designation that could mean a whole lot of things.
Rather quickly, Miami has gone from a stern message of “We’re not trading Butler” to “Not only are we trading Butler, we don’t want him around the team while we look for a deal.”
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst put this well:
“Butler's tactics to force Miami's hand and reverse its stance have appeared to work in the short term. The Heat didn't fully articulate all the components of what they felt was his "conduct detrimental" that led to the suspension, but Butler clearly wanted to be traded and took measures to get the Heat to come to the same conclusion. His lackluster play the past two games after sitting out five because an illness are probably on the list.”
For those who don’t remember, Butler has proven adept at getting out of situations he didn’t want to be in. He’s a bit of an innovator in that regard, inspiring future all-time performances like Harden showing up to Rockets camp overweight so the team would move him.
When Butler wanted out of Minnesota in 2018, he infamously played in a practice scrimmage against the rest of the starters (i.e, KAT and Wiggins) with a team of third-string players and handily won, talking all kinds of shit throughout. Within the hour, he was at home, sitting down for an interview with Rachel Nichols, which featured the following exchange:
Nichols: So you're back in practice today. I assume you're going back tomorrow.
Butler: I am.
Nichols: Should people think because you are back in practice that this is fixed, or it's on its way to being fixed?
Butler: Ah, I think people think that. I think people think that. I would think that too.
Nichols: What do you think?
Butler: It's not. It's not fixed. Just to be honest, it's not fixed.
Nichols: Is it fixable?
Butler: It could be. It could be. But do I think so? No. Because you got to be honest. I'm being honest. Do I think so? No.
Highly recommend, by the way, that you listen to his teammate at the time, Jeff Teague, tell his side of this story. High cinema.
All to say: Butler’s pulled worse than this Heat situation in the past. And in fairness, it’s not like he was wrong. KAT and Wiggins were soft. So were Embiid and Simmons. The Heat are probably one of very few franchises who could’ve corralled him for as long as they did, but you can’t call it a surprise that this relationship eventually soured too. Especially when the team looked at what Butler would be making in the years to come, and didn’t want to sign him to a $100M+ extension through his age-38 season.
Thus leading to this breakup text of a press conference last week, which featured this exchange — lots of interviews today:
Reporter: What will fix it? What do you want to see happen to fix it?
Butler: I want to see me get my joy back playing basketball. Wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon. I want my joy back. I’m happy here, off the court, but I want to be back to somewhat dominant. I want to hoop. I want to help this team win. Right now I’m not doing that.
Reporter: Can you get your joy back here on the court?
Butler: Probably not.
Alrighty then! That’ll do it, I guess. Then came the suspension, and now comes the waiting.
Butler is not a people pleaser. He’s not for everybody. On the one hand, he strikes me as a no-nonsense guy. On the other hand, he tends to bring about a good deal of nonsense.
The thing about Butler is, he also tends to get what he wants in the end. He is a case of player empowerment gone, depending on your perspective, very wrong or very right. In this case, he will almost definitely get traded. He’ll win.
’s recent reporting on this suggests that Butler might even get that giant extension he’s after. The Suns are up for it. Trading Beal to make room is no easy trick, but they’ve got every reason to try and figure it out.Where else makes sense? Memphis? Dallas? Denver…? LA…….? San……. Fran…. Cisco………? Eh. Butler’s a tricky case, and the apron system has made it much trickier to move stars than it used to be.
Still, I suspect we’ll get an answer to the question of his destination soon. With my luck, he’ll get dealt at some point today. You heard it here first, folks! Off he goes.
Wherever he lands, though, we’ll be right on to the next question. How long will the honeymoon last? Maybe a year? Don’t get too comfortable, I guess.
🏆 The NFL’s MVP race reminds me a lot of the NBA’s in recent years. You’ve got a guy in Lamar Jackson — who’s already won MVP twice, including last year — having the best season of his career. And then you’ve got a guy in Josh Allen, who’s been excellent all year with, I think we would all agree, a weaker supporting cast around him. Both put up crazy stats. Both led contending teams to the playoffs. Both, always key, play quarterback. Both are deserving. This is as close to a 2003 McNair-Manning co-MVP year as I can remember. I think Josh will win, but on the numbers, I think Lamar prolly should.
🏈 This is a real ESPN headline, which I won’t try to top, because it’s just that brutal: “Patriots beat Bills 23-16 to cost themselves top draft pick. Coach Jerod Mayo fired after game.” How’s that for a one-two? As I wrote last week, I wasn’t convinced the Patriots were going to lay down for this one, and though they may have thought the Joe Milton III experience would get them there, they were in turn Trubisky’d. Now that Mayo’s gone, the drop from #1 in the draft to #4 is all the more glaring, but I’ll say this: I trust their rumored target, Mike Vrabel, to steer this ship. It was absolutely confounding to me that he didn’t get a job last offseason, but I bet this was the one he’s been holding out for. Maybe there’s hope yet in New England.
🏈 I had at least four versions of this note written throughout last night’s game. My dad went to Notre Dame, so I tend to pull for them when I can, and I’m a little worried about a repeat of that 2013 final against Alabama, especially if Ohio State’s coming through that door. Jeremiah Smith scares me. But man! This Irish team definitely knows how to win ugly. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure it was Laura’s substantial crush on Marcus Freeman that saved their season, so. Life’s about balance, right?
🏉 It’s taken too long, but more NFL players are starting to learn the power of the lateral. That Broncos-Chiefs game was a laugher, made amusing to me mostly by the insane tip-drill TD catch by Devaughn Vele and the highly rugby-coded ‘forward pass’ review on a mid-scramble lateral from Bo Nix. Which did, yes, turn out to be forward. (Just barely! Watch. I queued it up here. You be the judge.) Way to ruin it for everyone, Bo. You’ve set our movement back at least one week. Nevertheless, we will persist, for the singularity is near.
