Ira Winderman: Irreconcilable differences should make Heat-Butler a divorce as a matter of course

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jan 26, 2025

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Compromise for a perfectionist arguably stands as one of life’s greatest challenges. So that already leaves Pat Riley at a loss in this battle of wills with Jimmy Butler.

No, the Miami Heat are not going to get the best possible return amid this anywhere-but-here approach by their star forward.

That doesn’t mean you rush into this as you did a year ago with Terry Rozier, sending away cap space and a draft asset on a wing and a prayer.

But it also means that if something tangible is offered, something along the lines of draft capital and contracts that go no further than one additional season, you have to be open to such compromise.

For Riley, Andy Elisburg, the Heat front office and ownership, it also means getting your best deal, with no regard to what Butler wants or what Butler would accept.

So if the Memphis Grizzlies have a package that meets the aforementioned criteria you make the move.

Yes, it has been made clear that Butler does not want to be in Memphis, with the expectation that the win-now Grizzlies will not extend him.

That, however, is not the Heat’s concern, if another team is willing to take the risk, banking on an all-in run for a championship this season. In that case, you offer your heartfelt thanks to such a willing trade partner, and wish them — Godspeed — the best of luck.

Yes, Butler could threaten either to not report (unlikely based on the salary already lost to suspension) or suggest he will act out, pointing to how these past few weeks have played out with the Heat. But the Heat at one point took such a risk with Butler, and wound up with two trips to the NBA Finals, a result the Grizzlies assuredly would accept as a short-term win.

But also do not get caught up in a single landing spot, but rather in the anywhere and everywhere where a functional deal can be completed.

Because if not, if this Butler-Heat stalemate continues, if the solution is to invoke another suspension at every Butler misstep, that not only is penalizing Butler, but also penalizing the roster and the coaching staff, as well.

That makes this about more than a front-office referendum on Jimmy Butler. It also is a referendum about the lengths the front office and ownership are willing to go to best serve the remaining roster and the coaching staff.

Yes, the worst position is to trade from a position of being forced to trade. But it also is a reality of today’s NBA. It is something a franchise should be braced for, having planned for, and stand ready to react.

The only way you don’t consider such an eventuality — having such an emergency envelope in the top drawer — is if you believe that with the expiration of the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline that all somehow can be made right.

And if you can actually believe that at this juncture, with all that has transpired over the past month, then you probably also are deluding yourself into believing you would actually have a shot at a championship this season.

The Heat don’t.

With Butler.

Without Butler.

But the Heat do have an opportunity in these ensuing weeks and months to build back something for a better future.

You can’t do that when there is a constant interruption, leaving the rotation and the lineups in flux almost on a game-by-game basis. (What are the odds of Butler being back in uniform Monday, at the end of this latest two-game suspension?)

Tough love means a willingness to accept the consequences. That stands as much for the party invoking the tough love as the party subjected to such a tough love.

Eventually, though, the love is lost. That’s when a separation not only is inevitable, but almost assuredly not amicable.

So you allowed this play out for the past month.

Perhaps you let this play out until the deadline, when offers might become sweetened.

But at some point, it just doesn’t work. So you get some type of return on your dollar. And you move on.

The Heat learned the lessons of a bad deal a year ago with the trade for Rozier. This doesn’t have to be a bad deal, because this time you are not giving away a draft asset, you are not taking on additional salary. You are, instead, creating an escape hatch by jettisoning and moving on.

Unfortunately, for now ... to be continued.