Heat President Pat Riley Says Jimmy Butler Will Not Be Traded

The Miami Heat have no plans to trade Jimmy Butler, team president Pat Riley said Thursday. “We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear — we are not trading Jimmy Butler,” he said in a statement.

Despite Heat president Pat Riley’s comments, Jimmy Butler reportedly “prefers a trade out of Miami”

Riley’s statement comes a day after league sources informed ESPN’s Shams Charania that the six-time All-Star “prefers a trade out of Miami ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline.” Butler is open to trade destinations such as the Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, and Phoenix Suns, league sources told Charania.

Per Spotrac, Butler is making $49 million on his contract with the Heat for this season and has a $52 million player option for 2025-26 after the two sides failed to reach an extension last summer. Butler intends to decline his 2025-26 player option and become a free agent in July, according to multiple reports.

Bernie Lee, Butler’s agent, denied Charania’s Dec. 10 report and even ripped the journalist on X a couple of days later, stating that he believes Charania lets ChatGPT write his own tweets and called the report “fabricated.”

Statement from Pat Riley

“We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear – We are not trading Jimmy Butler.”

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) December 26, 2024

Heat owner Micky Arison also reposted Lee’s statement, saying the latest reports on Butler from Charania this month are false. Miami then publicly denied the Butler trade rumors.

Nevertheless, other NBA insiders are reporting the same information as Charania. The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reaffirmed Charania’s report, mentioning that while Butler hasn’t requested a trade, he “would play out year here if Heat doesn’t trade him.”

Coach Erik Spoelstra says team wants Butler to remain in Miami

Through 20 games (all starts) this season, Butler is averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.3 steals, and 31.4 minutes per contest while shooting a career-best 55.2% from the field, 35.7% from 3-point range, and 78.2% at the free throw line.

Miami takes on the Magic in Orlando on Thursday. Butler did not fly with the team to Orlando on Wednesday night and has been ruled out for the game due to return to competition conditioning. He twisted an ankle in Miami’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.

“You have to compartmentalize in this business,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Thursday at the team’s morning shootaround in Orlando. “We want Jimmy here. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And it’s just unfortunate that you have to control or deal with a lot of the noise on the outside.”

The Heat (14-13) are currently in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.