Heat Players Tired Of Jimmy Butler: ‘He Has Disrespected Them So Much’

According to NBA reporter Rachel Nichols, Miami Heat players are tired of Jimmy Butler. 

Butler has requested a trade from the Heat. He’s currently suspended. 

“I’ve talked to guys in that locker room and to say they have had it is an understatement because he has disrespected them so much,” Nichols said. “The way he’s been in and out, oh last minute not playing,’ the way he’s been acting towards in their locker room, I mean staff and other people like that and then the stunt with them making them wait for hours on the tarmac even to show up?”

Butler is averaging 17.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.4 blocks this season for the Heat while shooting 54.0% from the field, 36.1% from beyond the arc and 80.1% from the free-throw line. 

A Marquette product, Butler is making $48.8 million this season. He has a player option worth $52.4 million for next season. 

The NBA trade deadline is February 6.

Butler, who doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract, prefers to get traded to the Phoenix Suns to play with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, sources told Hoops Wire. 

According to NBA insiders Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, trading for Butler is the Suns’ top objective. 

“Phoenix, fighting for positioning in the West play-in race, showed just how desperate it is by trading its unprotected 2031 first-round pick for three lower-value firsts: either the 29th or 30th pick in this year’s draft, plus the worst of Utah, Cleveland and Minnesota’s picks in both the 2027 and 2029 drafts,” Bontemps and Windhorst wrote. “Tuesday’s deal gave the Suns some flexibility in their dealings now but at the cost of mortgaging their future even further. Maybe doing so will help get Jimmy Butler to Phoenix — sources said landing the 35-year-old forward remains the team’s top objective.”

Butler has played for the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers and Heat. He has career averages of 18.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.4 blocks. 

Butler joined the Heat in 2019. He has guided the franchise to the NBA Finals twice.