The feud between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat has been growing for months and is reaching a point of no return where a trade is inevitable and could be near.
“There’s definitely a likelihood of it,” said Shams Charania on First Take. “A lot of it is because of where this is at right now. It’s at an untenable state. It’s really at a point of no return between these two sides.”
The Heat have yet to show any urgency in trading Butler in their conversations around the NBA. For Butler, even if the genesis of the issue was not receiving a contract extension from the Heat, he wouldn’t sign it even if it were offered.
“From my understanding, even if the Heat were to offer him an extension right now, that’s not something he wants to do,” said Charania. “That’s not something he would do. The last straw really came after Wednesday night’s game against New Orleans. A victory where in the 24 hours after, from what I understand, the Heat made implication to people around Jimmy Butler that he wasn’t playing his hardest. What we saw transfer last in the postgame was essentially his reaction to that.”
Charania also detailed how Butler and Riley previously had a strong relationship and he urged them to improve their roster over the past few offseasons, but have been unable to acquire the likes of Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday and Kyrie Irving when they became available.