Since trade season officially kicked off in mid-December, one name — Jimmy Butler — has dominated the conversation as teams survey the landscape to find out what players that could truly move the needle might be available. The Miami Heat star is in the last year of his contract (with a player option for next year he is widely expected to decline) and has not gotten an extension offer from Miami that is in the ballpark of what he’s seeking for what is likely the final big contract of his career.
With the Heat pretty clearly in a tier below the contenders at the top of the Eastern Conference, rumors began swirling about their willingness to at least listen to offers for the star — along with a reported list of teams Butler preferred to be dealt to. Butler’s agent initially fired back at ESPN’s Shams Charania questioning the legitimacy of his reports, but Charania has been insistent on what he’s hearing. On Christmas, Charania added that Butler now preferred to be traded before the deadline — but had not issued a formal trade request.
A day later, Pat Riley decided to try his best to shut down all of the rumblings about Butler’s status, putting out a rare (and definitive) statement through the team to address a trade rumor.
“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. Therefore, we will make it clear – We are not trading Jimmy Butler.”
You certainly can’t be clearer than that, but unfortunately for Riley, I don’t think this will be the end of the Butler trade saga. If Charania is right and Butler has decided he would like a change of scenery, we have seen in the past that he is not afraid of making things uncomfortable to get what he wants. What makes this situation fascinating is Riley also doesn’t mind that, as evidenced by his comments this summer about Butler and extension talks, and we could be headed for a truly incredible game of chicken between Riley and Butler over the next month-plus. For now, though, we’ll just have to take the Heat boss at his word that Butler won’t be on the move, and now the ball is in Jimmy’s court with regards to how hard he wants to press the issue — if at all.
