A Christmas tradition unlike any other
Jimmy Butler reportedly wants out of Miami, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania in a Christmas Day report. There is some delicate phrasing in Charania’s story, saying that Butler has not ‘formally requested’ a trade, but he is believed to be ‘ready for his exit.’
This follows a report from two weeks ago, via Charania, that the Heat were ‘open to listening’ to offers regarding the six-time All-Star Butler, and that Butler was hoping to be dealt to the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors or the Phoenix Suns. That specific story led to some angry online messages from Butler’s agent Bernie Lee, saying the report was ‘complete and utter made up bullshit.’
If all of this feels a bit confusing - but yet also familiar - it should. There is a history of ESPN’s top NBA newsbreaker dropping a bombshell report on Christmas Day.
In 2022 on Christmas, the recently-retired Adrian Wojnarowski stated that then-Philadelphia 76er James Harden was considering a return to the Houston Rockets. Harden did end up leaving the 76ers, not for Houston, but for the LA Clippers when he forced his way there in a trade request.
A year later on December 25th, Woj reported that Kevin Durant, in the middle of his first full season with the Phoenix Suns, was feeling ‘frustrated’ due to their underwhelming 14-15 start. And that this was a situation that the organization had to manage. Durant responded to Woj’s reporting, in an instagram comment to @_fatcheeze, saying that ‘people can flat out lie on my name and make shit up.’ Durant is still currently a Sun, where the team still is an underwhelming 14-14 this season.
Clip: pic.twitter.com/dyYHBxd5Ox
— Lobos (@16and0) December 25, 2023
Laying all of this out isn’t to say that Woj, and now Charania, are inaccurately reporting trade gossip in order to draw eyeballs to the Christmas Day game. But there is a consistent pattern of big news coming on the NBA’s biggest day of regular season games.
Our Ricky O’Donnell has a great breakdown of why the Jimmy Butler situation is a difficult one to navigate for not just the Heat, but the team that may want to acquire the six-time All-Star. Butler is 35-years-old with a $52 million player option at the end of this season, which Charania reports Butler’s side is letting teams know they will decline so Butler can become a free agent. Matching salaries is much more difficult under the new CBA. And the teams that Butler wants to go to - contenders - are pressed up against the second apron tighter than the 17 Christmas cookies I ate are to my stomach.
The Heat are 14-13 this season, with Butler contributing 18.5 points, 4.9 assists, and 5.8 rebounds. Despite Butler’s advanced age, he’s shooting 58% from 2-point range this season, the highest of his career. The big question is whether the Heat will value players that can help them this season (which the Heat typically do value) or if they decide to do a one season tank with a strong draft class and their pick coming back to them from the OKC Thunder if it falls in the lottery.
