On the topic of the Jimmy Butler trade rumors, Heat's Pat Riley releases statement on the matter.
Zachary Weinberger
With all the trade speculation around Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, team president Pat Riley has released a statement saying that they will not trade the 35-year-old. This came after rumors of the relationship between the Heat and Butler were fractured, which included Riley telling the forward to keep his “mouth shut” back during a May press conference.
“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,” Riley said via the statement that was posted to the team's official X, formerly Twitter, account.
As Riley said in the statement, it is rare to see that a response would be needed for rumors and certain reports, but the legendary former coach and executive thought that it was being a distraction to the team that is focused on winning games.
The relationship between Riley and Butler has been talked about within the past year, especially starting in May when Riley held his end-of-season press conference. He would respond to a comment made by Butler in a video that if he was healthy during the last postseason, the Heat would have beat the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.
“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.”
Butler was reportedly “caught off guard” by the comment made by Riley according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald and was also “disappointed” that the team would not deny the original rumors of Miami “open” to trading the star.
“A source said that Butler was caught off guard when Heat president Pat Riley, during a May news conference, scolded him,” Jackson wrote. “For saying that ‘Boston would be at home' and ‘New York damn sure would be [expletive] at home' if Butler had been healthy for Miami’s five-game first-round playoff loss against the Celtics, which he missed because of a knee injury.”
“According to a source, Butler was also disappointed that the Heat did not publicly deny a Dec. 10 ESPN report that Miami was open to trading him,” Jackson wrote.
The initial speculation on trade rumors started when Butler was seeking a contract extension after last season, but Riley was non-committal during the aforementioned press conference.
“Well, you know, we don't have to do that for a year and so we have not discussed that internally right now but we have to look at that and then make that kind of commitment,” Riley said. “Okay. And when do we do it? We don't have to do it until 25 actually, but we'll see. We haven't made a decision on it. And we really haven't really in earnest discussed it. So we'll see what happens.”
Riley would not be the only one to comment on the Butler trade rumors as even Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra would have a blunt message, saying “We want Jimmy Here” according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“That’s just the deal,” Spoelstra said Thursday morning at shootaround before Miami takes on the Orlando Magic. “You have to compartmentalize in this business. We want Jimmy here. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. And it’s just unfortunate that you have to control or deal with a lot of the noise on the outside. In terms of this morning, this was a pretty focused group coming off of the last game that we came [to Orlando].”
At any rate, the Heat are 14-13 before they take on the Orlando Magic on Thursday night as Butler is “doubtful” for the contest.
Zachary Weinberger is a credentialed Miami Heat reporter and an Associate Editor covering the NBA at-large, NCAA Football, and NCAA Basketball for ClutchPoints. He graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 2022, covering sports at the FAU University Press and later at The Palm Beach Post.
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