The Miami Heat’s decision to trade Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline marked the end of an ugly saga between him and the team that lasted for around a month.
After he seemingly made it known publicly that he wanted out of Miami with comments he made following the team’s loss to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 2, Butler oscillated in and out of the Heat’s lineup due to suspensions until he was dealt.
Butler hasn’t been a member of the Heat for nearly a fortnight now, yet at least one person with ties to the Miami organization is still perturbed with how the 35-year-old conducted himself leading up to the end of his Heat tenure. Former Heat star Tim Hardaway recently called the forward a “crybaby.”
"[Jimmy Butler's] a baby. [He's] a crybaby"
Heat and Warriors legend Tim Hardaway Sr. had some choice words for Jimmy Butler with @TheFrankIsola and @TermineRadio #HeatCulture pic.twitter.com/26QkHPiF0V
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) February 18, 2025
“I didn’t agree with what he was doing,” Hardaway said of Butler’s words and actions before he was traded out of Miami. “You’re under contract. You a baby. You’re a crybaby because they said ‘no’ to you. We used to get said no to us all the time, and we used to know how to take it. It is what it is. It’s a question — you get a yes or a no. You might not like the question, but you can’t deviate and mess up the team, alright? They said, ‘No, we want to see you play more games. We don’t want to be in the play-in games.’ If you saw — if he played more games, he would have never been in the play-in games.”
Not long after Butler signed with the Warriors, he came to terms on an extension with the team. He agreed to a two-year deal with Golden State worth a whopping $121 million.
New Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler has agreed to a new two-year, $121 million extension with the franchise through 2026-27, sources tell me and @WindhorstESPN. Butler is declining his 2025-26 player option for this new $121M deal.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 6, 2025
It’s far too early to definitively claim whether or not the Warriors made the right move by taking a flier on Butler, but the early returns on his tenure in Golden State have been promising.
Butler looks like a new and improved player compared to the tail end of his stint with the Heat. He’s helped take some scoring pressure off Warriors guard Stephen Curry, as the forward has scored 19-plus points in every one of his four games in a Golden State jersey.
The Warriors also have a 3-1 record in that span, with their only loss with Butler in the fold so far coming against the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 12.
The Heat, meanwhile, have floundered since trading a player in Butler who led them to two NBA Finals appearances earlier on in the decade. Miami has yet to pick up a victory since Feb. 5, as the team lost every one of its last four contests leading up to the All-Star break.
Miami will hope to avoid its fifth consecutive loss when it takes on the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 21. Toronto owns a home record of 12-17 on the season.
