Jimmy Butler says he needs to find joy again on the basketball court. And when asked if he could find that kind of joy in Miami, he answered with two words:
“Probably not,” he said.
The relationship between Butler and the Heat, which has been a hot topic for weeks, appears to have deteriorated further. The Heat lost 128-115 to Indiana on Thursday night, and for the second straight game, Butler had exactly nine points and exactly zero seconds to play in the fourth quarter. The same thing happened Wednesday against New Orleans.
“What do I want to see? I want to see the joy back in playing basketball,” Butler said. “Wherever you are, you’ll find out soon enough, but I want to get my joy back. I’m happy off the court, but I want to get back to a place where I’m dominant. I want to play basketball. I want to help this team win, but I don’t do that right now,” he said.
Butler has not publicly requested a trade, but ESPN reported Thursday that the six-time All-Star “could play somewhere other than Miami.” The Heat took a somewhat unusual move last week after reports surfaced that they would not trade him.
Thursday’s game certainly wasn’t a typical Butler game. He put a lot of effort into the corners on offense and only managed six shots in 27 minutes. He was shot five times on the floor Wednesday. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra basically made Butler his point guard for three quarters to spark things up. It didn’t work.
“Obviously he’s frustrated because he’s in the corner,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said. “So he’s got a lot going on in his corner. For us, as coach always says, we keep the main things the most important. We play to win and that’s it.”
Butler said he felt focused and got his work done Thursday, adding, “At least that’s what my job is now.”
“I’m not used to this,” Butler said. “It hasn’t happened since my first, second and third year in the league. I just went out there and played defense. I competed and I played defense. That’s what I’m doing now.”
Butler was the best player on both Heat teams that reached the NBA Finals. He has been eligible for a two-year, $113 million contract extension since last summer, and Miami has yet to offer the 35-year-old a new deal. Butler has a $52 million player option for next season or could leave Miami as a free agent this summer if he remains with the team after the trade deadline.
Spoelstra has said several times that he wants Butler in Miami and said he believes the back-to-back nine-point games are due in part to Butler being out for nearly two weeks with an illness. Wednesday was Butler’s first game after that stretch.
“It’s about being aggressive,” Spoelstra said prior to Butler’s postgame comments. “We have to find out. I have to find out. He has to find out. We have to find out.”
(Odds for Jimmy Butler’s next team: Will the star guard remain in Miami after the trade deadline?)
Butler insisted he would continue to compete.
“Whether it’s nine points or 29 points, we’re going to go out there and compete to win,” Butler said. “I’m going to compete. That’s what I’ll say. You’re not going to say I’m not playing hard out there. It might seem that way because my usage is low and I’m not shooting the ball as much, but we’re not going to sit here and say I’m not playing hard. .”
The Associated Press reported.
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