Jimmy Butler’s future with the Miami Heat has been up in the air for some time, as some comments from Pat Riley on the heels of last season sure made it seem like a breakup could be in the cards for the franchise and its former All-Star forward. Now, a new report by Shams Charania of ESPN indicates that he wants a change of scenery sometime in the next month and a half.
On Wednesday morning, Charania brought word that Butler prefers a move out of Miami ahead of the trade deadline this season, which takes place on Feb. 6. Butler, who turned 35 in September, has a player option for next year, but can decline that and become an unrestricted free agent, which Charania reports is the expectation.
Butler has a list of teams that he’d prefer if he gets moved, although there’s no mechanism in his contract that would let him force a trade to a specific team. All of this comes amid a bit of a unique season in Miami, as the Heat sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference at 14-13 with Tyler Herro taking on the role of being the team’s top option on offense. Butler, meanwhile, has been good, albeit not quite as productive as he’s been in years past, as he’s averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.3 steals in 31.4 minutes per game.
This news coming out on Christmas Day is not the first time that we’ve seen a big-name player’s future come into question on the bigget day on the NBA’s regular season calendar. Two years ago, a report came out that then-Sixers guard James Harden would seriously consider a return to the Houston Rockets if he hit the open market, which did not happen.
