Miami Heat

Before the Miami Heat finally made the move to trade Jimmy Butler, the six-time All-Star decided he wanted out because he felt his value wasn't being appreciated.

Per Andscape's Marc J. Spears, Butler's desire to be dealt stemmed from a feeling that the Heat "were moving in a direction without him in mind and he wanted to be more valued" at this point in his career.

It's unclear exactly when the rift between Butler and the Heat started, but Pat Riley's comments after their postseason loss to the Boston Celtics last season probably didn't help anything.

After Butler said the Celtics "would be at home" if he had been able to play instead of recovering from a knee injury, Riley told reporters he initially didn't know if the veteran forward was being serious.

"For him to say that, I thought, 'is that Jimmy trolling? Or is that Jimmy serious?'" Riley said. "If you're not on the court playing against Boston, or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut."

As this season went on, Riley was adamant the Heat wouldn't trade Butler. The Heat wound up suspending him on two different occasions in January for conduct detrimental to the team, with the second suspension coming after he walked out of a practice on Jan. 27.

Even though Butler reportedly made it clear his preference in a trade was to end up with the Phoenix Suns, they were never able to make a deal work with the Heat.

The Golden State Warriors eventually stepped in with an offer the Heat liked, though it took three other teams involved to facilitate the deal. Butler not only wound up on the Warriors, but he got a two-year, $121 million contract extension on top of it to show how much they value him.

Butler has rewarded the Warriors by making a significant impact for them. He's averaging 17.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game in 13 starts since the trade.

Golden State is in the midst of a five-game winning streak entering Thursday's game against the Sacramento Kings. The team has an 11-2 record with Butler in the lineup and sits in sixth place in the Western Conference standings.

The Miami Heat are 25-28 and no longer have Jimmy Butler on their roster after trading him to the Golden State Warriors. In the wake of that trade, Tyler Herro was rather blunt when assessing the team's chances for the rest of the season.

"It's hard to do. I don't think people realize how hard it is to win a championship," he told SiriusXM NBA Radio. "Everything has to fall in line. Right now, we started the season with Jimmy saying we're going to try to win a championship. I think obviously, if we're calling a spade a spade, we're not contenders right now."

Herro did highlight some of the younger players on Miami's roster when talking about what he sees as a bright future, but it's hard to argue with his position in regard to the rest of the 2024-25 season.

Miami has dealt with inconsistency throughout the season and sits in ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings at the All-Star break.

If the season ended today, it would be forced to win two play-in tournament games just for the right to face a top contender such as the Cleveland Cavaliers or Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.

That is hardly the recipe for a deep playoff run, especially since the player who was seen as the go-to option in such postseason contests is now on the Warriors.

Miami doesn't have the firepower to compete with the realistic championship contenders this season, as Herro is the only player on the team averaging more than 16.7 points per game. He and Bam Adebayo make a solid one-two punch, but it isn't enough to run through the play-in tournament and four postseason series on the way to a championship.

Even Butler might not escape the play-in tournament, as his Warriors are sitting in 10th place in the Western Conference standings and may face a similar path to Miami on the other side of the bracket.

Tyler Herro gave his thoughts on new Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins wearing No. 22, the same number worn by Jimmy Butler during his tenure with the organization.

"Jimmy is definitely a Heat legend, but I feel like with how things transpired over the last couple of months, I think 22 can be worn again," Herro said on Sunday.

Miami dealt Butler to the Golden State Warriors as part of a massive five-team swap prior to the Feb. 6 trade deadline. The Heat received a package headlined by Wiggins and a 2025 protected first-round pick in return.

Butler's exit from his former team was ugly, as he was suspended three separate times following an indication that he wanted to experience a change of scenery.

His final suspension occurred after he left practice early.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Butler walked out of Miami's shootaround on Jan. 27 after being told he was replaced in the starting lineup by Haywood Highsmith.

The 35-year-old's overall stint with the Heat was ultimately successful, as he led them to four playoff appearances. This included two trips to the NBA Finals.

Butler averaged 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 49.8 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from three-point territory with Miami. He sits at No. 8 on the organization's all-time scoring list.

While Herro praised Butler's contributions to the Heat, he also believed that Wiggins wearing the veteran's former jersey number shouldn't be an issue given his tumultuous departure from the team.

The Miami Heat landed Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson as part of the Jimmy Butler trade last week, and team president Pat Riley was happy to have the trio onboard.

"They are now officially part of what we do believe in, which is our culture here with the Heat," he told reporters. "And we believe they are perfect players to be part of that. I think they'll show it."

Wiggins said he was excited for the change in scenery, though it would be an adjustment.

"It's time for a new chapter," he told reporters. "It's hard. But that's the NBA, transitioning midseason. That's the NBA. It's a business. I'm here. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited. I think we can do something special here. They've got a nice squad, great coaching staff, amazing fans. I'm looking forward to it."

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.

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Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo gave basketball fans an early look at A'ja Wilson's signature Nike shoe during Friday night's game against the Brooklyn Nets.

Adebayo wore Wilson's A'One sneakers during the game, which are set for a worldwide release in May 2025:

Wilson, who stars for the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, will be the third active WNBA to have a signature shoe, joining the New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart.

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.

For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app, homepage and social feeds—including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

After signing with the Miami Heat in 2019, Jimmy Butler told team president Pat Riley that Andrew Wiggins was the most talented player he ever played with.

That detail was revealed amid Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN's breakdown of the split between the Heat and Butler, who was traded on Wednesday to the Golden State Warriors.

Five-and-a-half years after that remark, Wiggins was moved from Golden State to Miami in a five-team deal that brought Butler to the Heat.

Wiggins was a highly touted prospect who starred at Kansas before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft.

While he hasn't had a career filled with a host of individual accolades, he's done quite well for himself, averaging 18.5 PPG and 4.5 RPG per game over 11 seasons. Wiggins won Rookie of the Year and started the 2022 All-Star Game. Later in the 2021-22 season, Wiggins helped guide the Warriors to an NBA title, posting 16.5 PPG and 7.5 RPG in the playoffs.

The 29-year-old spent his first five-plus seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was teammates with Butler for 69 games over the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. So Butler didn't play much with him, but Wiggins clearly left an indelible impression, enough for the then eight-year veteran to offer lofty praise to Riley.

The two will notably face off against each other on March 25, when the Warriors visit the Heat.

The Miami Heat traded disgruntled star Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors this week, eliciting praise from at least one NBA front office person.

According to ESPN's Tim Bontemps, an anonymous Western Conference scout was impressed with what the Heat managed to pull off, saying: "To pick up a first and save money and get out of the biggest headache in the league? That's a win."

After weeks of rumors and speculation, the Heat finally sent Butler packing on Wednesday night as part of a four-team trade.

Miami traded Butler to Golden State and Josh Richardson to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, P.J. Tucker and a top-10-protected 2025 first-round pick.

The Heat later flipped Tucker to the Toronto Raptors as part of a deal for guard Davion Mitchell.

Butler, 35, had clearly wanted to get out of Miami for quite some time, as his actions resulted in three suspensions during the month leading up to the trade deadline.

The first suspension was for seven games due to conduct detrimental to the team. The Heat also announced at that time that they would listen to trade offers involving Butler.

Butler was then suspended two games for missing a team flight and indefinitely for walking out of a practice.

An anonymous Eastern Conference scout told Bontemps: "Disgruntled employees can complain their way into getting what they want in the NBA—if they're good enough."

Once the trade was consummated, the Warriors signed Butler to a two-year contract extension in hopes that they can be contenders in the Western Conference with a core of Butler, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and Trayce Jackson-Davis.

As for the Heat, trading away Butler allows them to move forward with Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro as their core, plus they have a solid supporting cast around them headlined by Wiggins, Terry Rozier, Nikola Jović, Duncan Robinson, Jaime Jaquez and Kel'el Ware.

During his six seasons in Miami, Butler was a highly productive player who helped take the Heat to the NBA Finals twice, but there was clearly a massive disconnect between the two sides this season.

Even though every other team knew that the Heat and Butler wanted to split, Miami still got a strong trade package in return, which speaks to the job done by Heat president Pat Riley and general manager Andy Elisburg.

The Miami Heat suspended Jimmy Butler three times this season before finally trading him, and the second one came, in part, because he missed a team flight to Milwaukee.

Apparently, Butler's travel schedule and arrangements with the team were a point of contention even before that suspension.

James Jackson, Sam Amick and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic published a detailed report Friday that shed light on the breakdown of the relationship between Butler and the Heat before they traded him to the Golden State Warriors.

Part of the report highlighted the travel issues, with sources telling The Athletic that Butler had an arrangement in place where he could fly separately from the team as long as he was granted permission by head coach Erik Spoelstra.

However, that arrangement was changed, which, according to the report, Butler believed was done "to alienate him."

The report explained that "Butler also routinely did not ride the team bus to practices or games on the road, using a rideshare instead that the team paid for until this season, and even stayed separately from the team on road trips on occasion.

However, sources close to Butler told The Athletic that team president Pat Riley changed the travel arrangement two months before the missed flight as a way of "asserting his dominance over the star forward."

According to the report, "this relationship was already on the rocks at that point with discomfort rising and Riley deciding in mid-November that he, and not Spoelstra, would make the final decision whenever Butler asked to fly separately from the team."

The suspension for the missed flight would not be the last.

Miami also suspended Butler a third time after he walked out of a team practice. Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix reported that the third suspension was a "needle mover" that pushed the team over the edge and further motivated it to trade Butler, even if it meant getting less back in return.

The Heat eventually moved him to the Warriors in a multiteam deal that saw Andrew Wiggins end up in Miami.

That means Butler will join Stephen Curry and Draymond Green and look to lead the Warriors to more consistency in the stretch run. Golden State is 25-26 and tied with the Sacramento Kings for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.

It also means Butler will have to figure out a new travel schedule with the Warriors.

Jimmy Butler's interpretation of Miami Heat team president Pat Riley's actions during a Jan. 7 meeting reportedly sealed the disgruntled star's decision to find a way out of South Florida.

According to James Jackson, Sam Amick and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, Butler did not react well to Riley becoming emotional and tearing up when talking to Butler about the death of his father, which occurred last year.

Riley's father died when the Basketball Hall of Famer was 25, and while he attempted to connect with Butler on that common ground, Butler reportedly felt Riley came across as "unhinged and disturbing."

The Heat ultimately found a trade partner this week, sending Butler to the Golden State Warriors as part of a multi-team deal that landed them Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and a top-10-protected 2025 first-round pick.

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.

For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app, homepage and social feeds—including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.