Inside The Heat

NBA Insiders Believe Miami Heat Should Have Moved Jimmy Butler Last Season

Shandel Richardson

Jan 2, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) warms-up before the game against the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Jan 2, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) warms-up before the game against the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
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The Miami Heat are in the middle of Jimmy Butler drama this season.

A couple of NBA insiders feel the Heat could have avoided the situation had they moved Butler last year at the trade deadline. Ethan Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports and Matt Moore of Action Network both feel the Heat should've gotten rid of Butler a year ago.

"They should've dealt him at the last deadline," Moore said. "You get ahead of this. And there was going to be so many teams that would've been like, `Hell yea, absolutely. We want a winner like that on board' versus now when it's like, `Um, I have to pay him a lot of money for the biggest locker room explosion guy in the league who the Heat couldn't handle."'

Skolnick went far as saying Butler has damaged his trade value because of the situation this season.

"If you trade him then, he would've had more value, no question abbout it," Skolnick said. "He's tanking his own values now, which is making it harder for them to trade him."

HERRO STANDS ALONE

Lost amid Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler’s frequent unavailability is teammate Tyler Herro’s constant availability. 

And no, that’s not us dissing Butler. 

We’ve collectively spent so much time talking about Butler’s injury and recent suspension that it’s become easy to forget Herro’s reliability. In fact, he’s now the only Heat player not to miss a game yet. 

All-Star center Bam Adebayo missed his first game Monday with a back contusion. It is unknown if he’ll play Wednesday against the Lakers. 

The Heat have played 38 games. Only four players—Adebayo, Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Haywood Highsmith—have missed two or fewer games; Robinson and Highsmith have only sat out twice. 

Herro’s durability is noteworthy given his injury history. He broke his hand in 2023 and missed 40 games last season. 

Herro has never played more than 70 regular season games. 

Heat president Pat Riley publicly called Herro out last spring. He described the dynamic guard as “fragile” in an end-of-season press conference.

“What did he play, 40 games?” Riley said in May. “He might have to go to another level nutritionally. He’s got to make some adjustments, definitely.”

Clearly, whatever Herro has changed is working—and it’s keeping the inconsistent Heat in the playoff picture. 

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here