In a segment on the ‘To The Baha’ podcast, former NBA point guard Theo Pinson put Heat GM Pat Riley on blast for trading Jimmy Butler. According to Pinson, the Butler trade was worse than the Mavericks’ infamously trading Luka Doncic after six and a half historic seasons.
“That is a worse trade than Dallas and the Lakers, by far,” Pinson explained. “Jimmy Butler was Heat culture. Regardless of what the f*ck you thought he was doing off the court, that motherf****r brought a toughness. He brought a mentality. He had leadership. Bro, I swear to God, it did not matter what seed the Miami Heat were—if they got in the playoffs, any team that played them didn’t want to see him and had to buckle the f*ck up.”
The Mavericks were met with unprecedented scrutiny when they made the decision to trade Luka Doncic earlier this season. In a shocking move, they sent Doncic and Maxi Kleber to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a future first-round pick.
Doncic, 26, was at the center of basketball operations for the Mavericks and they had spent the past six years trying (and failing) to build a title-contending team around him. Citing concerns about his work ethic and conditioning habits, the Mavericks wanted to avoid giving Doncic the supermax but they didn’t foresee the backlash it would cause.
According to Pinson, however, the Heat trading Butler this season is even worse than the Doncic trade. While Doncic was exiled for not fitting in with the culture, the case could be made that Jimmy is the one who set the culture in Miami.
His absence has not only left the Heat vulnerable on the court, but it has also robbed them of the identity that they worked so hard to create. Jimmy set the example with his competitive spirit and an infectious commitment to winning that made Miami one of the most feared teams in the East.
On the court, Butler provided a steady hand that consistently came through for them under pressure. Over 316 games with the franchise, he averaged 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game on 49.8% shooting.
Under Butler’s leadership, the Heat made two Finals appearances over four years. Now, however, Miami is 10th in the East at 29-39. After losing their eighth straight game on Monday (their most since 2008), head coach Erik Spoelstra blamed himself for the team’s ongoing struggles.
“There’s no one that’s absolved from this,” said Spoelstra. “I have not come up with enough answers for this team. I have to do a better job. Our group has to do a better job.”
The Heat have been a mess since Butler’s departure and it remains to be seen if they can find their way this season. Unfortunately, without a proper leading voice in the locker room, the Heat may be doomed to fail for the time being.
The only team that’s in a worse free-fall right now is the Mavericks, who are losers of three straight games and winners of 2 in their last 10 games. Life is never easy after trading your franchise star and it seems we have two teams finding it out the hard way as the 2024-25 campaign comes to a close.
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