Jimmy Butler’s indifferent statement before playing Miami Heat for first time since trade

Things got ugly at the end of Jimmy Butler’s era in Miami. On Tuesday he and the Golden State Warriors play the Heat and Jimmy “Buckets” returns to the place he once called home for the first time.

Yada, yada, yada

There were suspensions, and missed flights and ultimately a forced trade which ended Butler’s time in Dade County. The trade worked out wonderfully for Jimmy, who joined Steph Curry and the Warriors and immediately made them a competitor in the Western Conference. The same can’t be said for the Miami Heat.

The Heat coming coming off of their first win in their last 10 games, and have plummeted down the standings in the Eastern Conference. To make matters worse their ex visits town and you know that Jimmy, who is no stranger to a confrontation or two will be looking to rub the Heat’s face in it on Tuesday at Kaseya Arena.

Butler shrugged off the importance of his return to the city he called home since 2019. “Yeah, I was traded from there, yada, yada, yada,” Butler said after Golden State’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday “Yeah, it didn’t end the way that people wanted to, yada yada yada.”

Miami is “so far behind” Butler

Butler joined the Heat after a very brief stint with the Philadelphia 76ers. He led Miami to the NBA Finals in his first year. They lost the Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in the bubble back in the COVID shortened season, but would return to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2021/22 season. After losing to the Boston Celtics, Miami would get back to the NBA Finals as an eight seed the next year, but lost to the Denver Nuggets in five games.

Last year, Butler was hurt for the first round series against the Celtics, and that’s when the problems began. He was spotted saying had he been playing the Celtics wouldn’t have made it through the series, and the New York Knicks would have been knocked out too. Heat president and Pat Riley said “If you’re not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut.” That lit a fuse that eventually exploded in February of this year.

Butler said the past is behind him and all he is looking to do is help his new team win now. “But that’s so far behind me now. I don’t even think about it. I don’t pay attention to nothing except for the trajectory of this squad.”

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