Dave Hyde: Shaq's defense of Layoff Jimmy is indefensible

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jan 25, 2025

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I wonder what Miami Heat president Pat Riley thought hearing Shaquille O’Neal defend Jimmy Butler for quitting on his team. I wonder if he thought, “Shaq quit on us in 2008 just like Jimmy has quit now.”

I also wonder what Butler thought listening to O’Neal be his public advocate. I wonder if Butler thought O’Neal saying it was “just business” that he quit on the season and disliked how studio mates Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith called the Heat veteran “unprofessional.”

“You just can’t not show up to work,’’ studio mate Kenny Smith said to Shaq.

“Why not?” Shaq said.

The point isn’t that O’Neal sounded like a dope. It’s that Butler’s actions become acceptable to a certain level of fans when a Hall of Fame voice like O’Neal condones them on a national platform.

South Florida is knee-deep in these antics, too. The Miami Dolphins also found no matter how much money they threw at Tyreek Hill and how many rules they bend to accommodate him, it wasn’t enough to make him play every down.

Butler is taking it to a different level just like Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant. It’s not enough to try to force a trade, as so many of these players want to push franchises into subservience and publicly punk them on the way out the door.

It’s no wonder O’Neal supports this. He legitimized it. Shaq wanted out of Los Angeles, which the Heat celebrated with a trade. But he grew fat and lazy after the 2007 title to the point he barely practiced and infected teammates. Riley once challenged him to a fight (Shaq, bless him, declined).

“The part I hate about the business of basketball thing is it always has to be someone’s fault,” Shaq said. “It’s more human nature, ‘You don’t want me, well, I don’t want you’ … I don’t like this, ‘It’s his fault, it’s unprofessional.’ ”

So now it’s not ‘unprofessional’ to stop showing up to work? It’s not a no-fault zone that he’s not honoring his contract?

Butler makes $48 million this season and $52 million next season on his Heat deal, too. He just wants more for two years from now. You can’t blame him. But the Heat don’t want to invest in a 35-year-old with a full attitude and diminishing game.

So, a trade is in the wind. I was of the mind to just trade Butler, be done with him and let the rest of the Heat carry on with their season. But Riley didn’t forge his career by caving and is holding out for something not yet on the table.

There’s always been flexing of egos and clashing with management in sports. But what’s the team to do when a player refuses to show up to work and they’re on the hook for $100 million?

First, the Heat suspended Butler for seven games. He sauntered through three games upon his return before missing a plane and was suspended for two more games. The Heat were embarrassed in Milwaukee Thursday night on the court. But all the talk was about Butler off it.

We’re in an NBA era where Butler’s attitude is becoming more acceptable, because enough Shaqs think so. It’s like Butler missing a quarter of the regular season as he has done for years is acceptable because so many stars miss games. LeBron James, a dinosaur at 40, still tries to play every game just like Michael Jordan did in his final season at 40.

The Heat put up with Butler’s middling interest in the regular season for years because he took the team to three Eastern Conference finals and two NBA Finals. He became Playoff Jimmy. Now he’s Layoff Jimmy.

Now he doesn’t show up to work because he wants a contract two years from now. Shaq defended that thinking, too. Never mind a franchise is left in the lurch.

South Florida has spent much of this month knee-deep in questions about why great players won’t play. Hill was a momentary decision in the Dolphins last game, part of a larger season of missed meeting.

Butler is following a strategy to get traded. It’s one thing to have to watch such moments. It’s another for the likes of Shaq to defend them and put them on the road to normal behavior.