Former NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins recently shared his thoughts on Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler and the fact that he may be heading toward the end of his time in Miami.
Recently, it was reported that the Heat are open to hearing trade offers on Butler and that the six-time All-Star has destinations such as the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns in mind.
However, the Heat reportedly won’t trade Butler unless the offer meets a certain threshold.
“I think that relationship just ran its course,” Cousins said of Butler and the Heat. “And it’s – you gotta think about the personalities involved. If you know Jimmy, he’s head honcho wherever he is. And then you think about a guy like Pat Riley, who also has that same mindset. So, obviously they haven’t found success as of lately, so I believe it’s a clash of two big, dominant egos.”
Butler is under contract for the 2024-25 season and has a player option for the 2025-26 campaign. He is expected to decline that player option this coming offseason to become an unrestricted free agent.
If the Heat were to indeed trade Butler, they’d be breaking up a core that has gone to the NBA Finals twice since the star came to Miami ahead of the 2019-20 season.
The franchise made the Finals in the NBA’s Orlando, Fla. bubble in the 2019-20 season, and it made it back to the Finals in the 2022-23 season despite being the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Last season, the Heat were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics, but Butler did not play in that series due to an injury.
This season, Butler is averaging 19.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 55.2 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from 3-point range. He had 35 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists in Miami’s overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons on Monday night.
Even though Butler has been a great player for the Heat, he has struggled to stay on the floor a bit, playing in under 65 games in every completed season that he’s spent with the franchise (excluding playoffs).
While he has only missed a few games this season, the Heat have not had the best start to the campaign, winning 13 of their first 24 games. Still, they hold the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.
It’ll be interesting to see how Riley and Butler handle the star’s future in Miami as the trade deadline approaches this season.
