Retired NBA shooting guard Rashad McCants recently had some harsh words for Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler’s performance against the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 NBA Finals — and his overall impact as a player.
To McCants’ credit, Butler did underperform in the championship series after he was more productive in the first three rounds of the 2023 NBA Playoffs and downright dominant in the first round. An ankle injury that he suffered in the second round might have impacted him over the remainder of the postseason.
He played in all five games in the NBA Finals, and during that span, he averaged far fewer points and rebounds per game than he did in any of Miami’s three series against opponents in the Eastern Conference.
During the opening three rounds, Butler never averaged fewer than 24.6 points per game in any series. But against Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and company, he saw his scoring average dip to 21.6 points per contest. To add insult to injury, Butler didn’t score the ball in a very efficient manner against Denver, either.
He knocked down only 41.3 percent of his shots from the field across five games played in the NBA Finals, though he did shoot a respectable 36.8 percent from 3-point range. It’s worth noting that his efficiency struggles didn’t start against Denver. From the second round onward, he wasn’t very efficient with his shots, perhaps due to the ankle.
In the NBA Finals, Butler also wasn’t his usual impactful self on the glass. He averaged 4.6 rebounds per game against Denver, one of the lowest rebounding averages in a single playoff series of his pro career.
Unfortunately for fans of the Heat, Butler didn’t get an opportunity to redeem his subpar play in the 2023 NBA Finals once the 2024 NBA Playoffs rolled around. He suffered an MCL injury in Miami’s play-in loss to the Philadelphia 76ers last season and thus sat out the entirety of the Heat’s playoff run, which came to an end against the Boston Celtics in the first round.
But if the Heat can qualify for the playoffs again this coming season, Butler will have yet another chance to bring an NBA championship to the city of Miami and show McCants that he’s got it wrong when it comes to Butler’s impact.