SO SAD: GM, ERIK SPOELSTRA of Miami heat, announced his departure just now after facing…
Miami Heat supporters will be eternally grateful to Jimmy Butler. The franchise was in complete disarray before Butler signed in the summer of 2019.
The Heat hadn’t been to the Finals since 2014, and they had missed the playoffs entirely three times between 2015 and 2019. Despite what some Philadelphia 76ers media members believed, Butler kept his vow to travel to Miami and win basketball games. Butler guided the Heat to the NBA Finals in his first season there. We saw him go head to head with probably the best player of all time, LeBron James, down in Orlando.
Who could forget Butler’s spectacular 56-point outburst against Jrue Holiday and the Bucks in 2023? Butler was fantastic in that game, lighting up one of the league’s top perimeter defenders and letting him know it. He led the Heat to an unlikely Finals appearance that year as the eighth seed. The Jimmy Butler Heat era has been filled with ecstatic highs, but it appears to be coming to an end.
Butler wants an extension from Miami right now, but the Heat may be hesitant to grant him one at this time. If the Heat didn’t pay Dwyane Wade what he wanted in 2017, Butler may not receive his asking price either. Some may call this doubling back on past mistakes, but that is the Heat way. They prioritize victory over relationships. If the Heat does not offer Butler an extension, they should go young and rebuild through these potential trades.
