Miami Heat president Pat Riley may have just offered the final word in the Jimmy Butler saga.
“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 Thursday in a statement. “Therefore, we will make it clear—we are not trading Jimmy Butler.”
The remarks come a day after ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Butler “prefers a trade out of Miami ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline.”
Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald corroborated the report and offered some additional context that has become more notable after Riley’s statement. Among Butler’s frustrations with Miami was that the team “did not publicly deny” an earlier story from Charania about listening on trade offers.
Thursday’s statement doesn’t amount to a denial in that respect but appears to shut the door on any future trade negotiations.
It’s not clear how far along the Heat got with other teams before they decided to eliminate the idea altogether.
Charania along with Jackson and Chiang clarified Butler hadn’t made a full trade request from Miami. From the team’s perspective, Jackson wrote Wednesday the Heat “would be OK taking this soap opera into July unless it gets an appealing offer before Feb. 6.”
Barry Jackson @flasportsbuzz
As long as Butler doesn’t make this into a circus, Heat would be OK taking this soap opera into July unless it gets an appealing offer before Feb. 6. If Miami gets very appealing offer, they’re certainly open to moving on from him in coming weeks. But Butler could force Heat hand… https://t.co/VYJZjmqBpF
He and Chiang also laid out the practical case for keeping Butler and letting him test his value in free agency if he declines his $52.4 million player option.
The Brooklyn Nets are projected to be the only team that can offer max money to an outside free agent in the summer based on the projected salary cap. Beyond that, losing the six-time All-Star wouldn’t be that bad, either, because it would bring added flexibility to the payroll that doesn’t materialize if he’s traded.
Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42
Important to remember that instead of taking back contracts that hurt flexibility, the Clippers let Paul George leave in free agency for nothing.
The savings turned into James Harden, Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn, Kevin Porter Jr., Nicolas Batum and extensions for Terance Mann,… https://t.co/0sETLYPtlE
If nothing else, the Heat were facing another month and change of discussion about Butler’s future in South Florida until the deadline passed. As Riley said, it wasn’t good to have that drama hanging over the organization as it tries to solidify its position the top six of the Eastern Conference.
Rival general managers might see this as an act of subterfuge intended to drive Butler’s trade value higher than it already is. But it would be quite an about-face for Riley to take such a declarative stance in public and turn around and deal the veteran forward.
