Jimmy Butler is not thinking about the Miami Heat.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he isn’t thinking about Butler, either.
On Tuesday night when the Golden State Warriors (41-30) visit the Heat (30-41), Butler will have no choice but to think about the Miami team that suspended him multiple times this season before finally trading him on Feb. 6.
“Yeah, I was traded from there yada, yada, yada,” Butler said. “Yeah, it didn’t end the way people wanted … But that’s so far behind me now. I don’t even think about it. I don’t think about nothing except the trajectory of our squad.”
That trajectory is pretty good as the Warriors are 16-4 since acquiring Butler. The 29-year-old missed one of the losses — a 126-119 defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Heat, meanwhile, just went through a 10-game losing streak that was the franchise’s longest skid since the 2007-08 season.
After finally ending the streak with a win over the visiting Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night, Spoelstra was asked about Butler, who helped the Heat reach the NBA Finals in 2023.
“We’ve been so engulfed in our situation that if I said I haven’t noticed the schedule, everyone would roll their eyes,” Spoelstra said when asked about Butler. “But I really haven’t been able to check out the schedule. We have been trying to get a damn win. I was aware of it (the upcoming Warriors game). But the highest form of sanity is to be in the present moment. So, give me some time on that. There will be a lot of different feelings. I probably won’t express all of them (to the media).”
“We had a great five-year run,” he added. “We didn’t win the title, but we had great moments. That’s what I will remember. It doesn’t matter what we feel right now.”
Butler essentially agrees with Spoelstra on their time together, saying: “We didn’t win like we were supposed to … We had some cool runs. We had fun, but that’s all we did.”
The Butler drama overshadows the fact that this will be Andrew Wiggins’ first game against the Warriors since he was traded to Miami as part of the same deal.
Wiggins has been balling lately, averaging 36.0 points in the two games since returning from injury.
Heat guard Tyler Herro said Wiggins “made just about every shot he took” in a 42-point effort against Charlotte. Herro wasn’t wrong as Wiggins went 16-for-21 overall and 6-for-8 on 3-pointers.
Spoelstra, though, had a different perspective.
“We need him to be more,” said Spoelstra, referring to Wiggins’ role as a scorer on the Heat. “And he wants to take on that challenge.”
Golden State’s high-volume shooter is, of course, 11-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry, who is averaging 24.2 points.
However, Curry, 37, sat out Golden State’s loss at Atlanta on Saturday due to a pelvic contusion.
According to ESPN, Curry will travel to Miami with the hopes of playing but it will depend on how his injury responds to treatment.
The other big thing to watch on Tuesday is how the fans treat Butler. The crowd will likely boo the ex-Heat star, who asked to be traded and — in the Miami’s view — gave up on the team.
Not that Butler cares.
“Don’t make no difference,” Butler said of the fans. “I’m a member of the Golden State Warriors now. I’m on the opposing team.”
–Field Level Media
