Jimmy Butler knows there are tons of questions about his future with the Miami Heat. He might get traded, he might leave as a free agent next summer, he might exercise a $52.4 million option to return to the Heat or he might get a new contract.
“Who knows?” Butler asked.
Evidently, even he doesn't have answers.
The Heat forward — who has led the team to a pair of NBA Finals trips in his Miami tenure — spoke out about trade speculation Wednesday, telling reporters after practice that he doesn't mind his name being in the rumor mill. ESPN reported earlier in the week that the Heat are open to receiving trade offers; that wouldn't be surprising, given Butler's contract status and the possibility that he might leave with the Heat getting nothing in return next summer.
“I actually like it,” said Butler, who is averaging 19 points per game this season. “It’s good to be talked about. I don’t think there’s such a thing as bad publicity — to a point.”
Butler's future in Miami has been a talking point for some time now.
The Heat could have offered an extension last summer and chose not to, presumably for a variety of reasons including Butler's age — he's 35 — and the fact that he missed 26% of Miami's games over his first five seasons with the team.
He still clearly impacts winning: Miami is 8-2 this season when he scores at least 18 points. And the Heat aren't new to trade speculation; Tyler Herro has been the centerpiece of rumors in each of the last three summers. He is still in Miami, playing at an All-Star level and is the reigning Eastern Conference player of the week.
“Any other narrative, I don't care. Nobody should because most of this stuff has just been all a bunch of gibberish,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said this week.
Butler said Wednesday that money doesn't really matter to him at this point. He stopped short of saying that he wants to absolutely remain in Miami — “I’m pretty sure y’all are going to get a report that’s going to say otherwise anyways, so there’s no sense in me answering that question,” he said — and that he's not fixated on extensions or trades.
“My kids matter, my happiness matters, my well-being matters and my family matters,” Butler said. "Right now, it’s all about competing, staying healthy, playing some great basketball. I think I’ve done that so far, so we’ll see what we got.”
It has been social media fodder for a few days, with some even suggesting that Butler's hair dye in recent weeks — sometimes yellow, sometimes blue, sometimes red — has matched the teams some of the trade speculation links him to like Golden State, Dallas and Houston.
That said, he has insisted since arriving in Miami that he wants to bring the team another championship. That stance has not changed.
“We’re going to continue to win and I’m proud of the guys,” Butler said. “You see everybody out here working and we know what we’re capable of.”
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