Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat career may be coming to an end. Does it still make sense to acquire Donovan Mitchell?
In South Beach, there might be a Jimmy Butler problem. He’s undoubtedly one of the top three players in Heat history—up there with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Alonzo Mourning. Many organizations would give their franchise’s main players large salaries when they were older—just look at Kobe Bryant in the latter years of his Lakers career—but the Heat have a history of doing the exact opposite.
The legendary Dwyane Wade was taken advantage of by the Heat’s “What have you done for me lately” mentality. In 2016, at the age of 34, Wade requested a large salary, to which Pat Riley essentially replied, “No, sir. Take what we’ll give you.” Because of the money dispute, Wade left for the Bulls that offseason; would Jimmy Butler follow suit?
Riley says he wants to win with Butler on the team, but given the Heat’s yearly struggles to advance past the play-in round, he might not feel comfortable giving Butler a two-year, $113 million max agreement. Butler has participated in roughly 58 games per year since moving to Miami. When your best player plays so little, you can’t develop good habits. To truly succeed in the postseason, you have to treat the regular season seriously, even the unlikely runs.
In the event that no deal is achieved, a trade might be required. A unique four-team transaction that makes sense from every perspective is suggested by Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus.
