The NBA is a league that has always been built around its superstars. The best players get enormous contracts. They get the headlines, the endorsements, and the trophies. And when they aren’t happy, they typically get the trades that they crave.
There are tons of examples across NBA history of star players getting, essentially, whatever they wanted. Meanwhile, instances of NBA superstars being told “no” are extremely rare, which honestly makes those moments all the more satisfying.
This week, Miami Heat president Pat Riley essentially gave Jimmy Butler a firm “no” on his desired trade out of South Beach. Not long after reports surfaced that Butler—inarguably one of the greatest players in Heat history—preferred to be traded, Riley—inarguably one of the greatest executives the league has ever seen—put out a statement:
“We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear—we are not trading Jimmy Butler.”
Maybe it’s the parent in me, but it’s so refreshing to hear “no” directed toward a child, regardless of whether that child is a 5-year-old at the shopping center or a 35-year-old at the Kaseya Center.
To be clear, Riley’s words do not guarantee Butler’s spot on the Miami roster for the remainder of the season. The Feb. 6 trade deadline is still more than a month away, and Butler certainly would not be the first superstar to get dealt after his team publicly denied the possibility.
Nevertheless, Riley deserves to be commended for not giving in to Butler’s soft trade request. The Heat, of course, have created a winning culture, and Riley is not about to let the foundation crumble to the ground simply because Butler has been daydreaming that maybe, just maybe, his fifth NBA team could be the charm.
For starters, Butler and the Heat are in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. Entering Friday’s action, they are in sixth place in the East at 15-13 with quality wins over the Mavericks, Suns, Cavaliers and Magic since Thanksgiving.
They’ve been streaky and sloppy at times this season, but they are giving up the second-fewest points per game in the East (108.6), and their offense has been generally crisp with Butler on the court. In fact, in games where Butler has played at least 29 minutes, Miami is 10-6 and has scored at least 103 points in every one of those contests.
This is a team that has been productive with Butler as its centerpiece this season—not to mention in previous years, where their results with Butler generally have been solid in the regular season (and borderline absurd at times in the postseason).
Butler appears likely to decline his player option this summer, making him a free agent.
That would certainly impact the return Riley could expect to receive for Butler, further diminishing the chances of a beneficial deal coming to fruition.
As it currently stands, a top trio of Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro remains intriguing in the East. Sure, they wouldn’t stack up well against the Celtics or Cavaliers on paper. But Riley’s teams have been counted out before, only to emerge victorious in the postseason thanks largely to Butler’s Hall of Fame combination of two-way greatness and unwavering determination.
The only reasons to trade Butler at this point would be if he flat-out refused to play (he hasn’t), if he was becoming a team cancer (he isn’t), or if the playoffs were a lost cause (they aren’t). As long as the star, the team and the goals remain relatively intact, the mission must continue.
