Greg Cote: Amid Jimmy Butler drama, All-Star Tyler Herro and Kel'el Ware lead Heat surge of home-grown talent

Greg Cote, Miami Herald on Jan 31, 2025

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MIAMI — This has been the Miami Heat season swallowed whole by Jimmy Butler and his ego. Mention the team these days and the mind rivets on the malcontent star who wants out so badly he has been suspended three different times in January alone for conduct detrimental to the team (and to his own reputation, of course).

The havoc Butler has wreaked is a shame on various levels, and one largely overlooked is this:

By making himself the center of attention with his childishness, he is drawing the spotlight from players far more deserving for far better reasons.

Three quick examples:

— Tyler Herro, the sixth-year guard still only 25, has found a higher gear this season and is averaging a career-high 24.1 points per game with other personal bests for 2-point, 3-point and overall field-goal percentage, rebounds and assists.

He learned Thursday evening he is the only Heat representative in this year’s NBA All-Star Game, as an Eastern Conference reserve. He earned the distinction, though there was a chance he wouldn't make it.

Herro is only the 11th different Heat player to make the ASG. Make it or not, though, this was the season that saw Herro elevate his all-round game and rise to All-Star quality — all of it overshadowed by Butler’s antics. Herro spent much of his early career engulfed by trade speculation; now, perhaps the club sees him as part of the foundation worth holding onto and building onto.

— Kel’el Ware, the 7-foot rookie center, was as of Thursday the betting favorite to win the league Rookie of the Year award. Miami’s first-round pick (15th overall) out of Indiana has blossomed in a starting role since the Heat went big in Butler’s absence. In his first five starts he averaged of 18.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 steals with 52.9% shooting from the field and 90% on free throws.

Ware would be, rather astoundingly, Miami’s first Rookie of the Year selection in the franchise’s 37 seasons. (Dwyane Wade finished third in 2003-04.) Ware paired alongside Bam Adebayo also has unlocked something in Adebayo, especially offensively. They look like the club’s frontcourt moving forward.

— And second-year small forward Jamie Jaquez Jr., 23, was just named an invitee to rep the Heat in the Rising Stars Game this All-Star Weekend. Though his production has tailed off a bit since his rookie season due partly to injuries, Miami remains high on Jacquez’s future, along with that of 6-10 Nikola Jovic, who is 21.

Notably, the Heat’s core right now, sans Butler, is one drafted and developed by Miami, with (starting with most recent) Ware, Jacquez, Jovic, Herro and Adebayo represent five of the team’s most recent six first-round draft picks.

Wasn’t team president Pat Riley supposed to be the guy who loved veterans more than he trusted draft picks?

This has turned into a homegrown nucleus. This is a fun, encouraging thing that is trying to breathe in a season Butler has sucked the oxygen from.

This is the most talented young core Miami has had since the group led by Lamar Odom and Caron Butler that was traded for Shaquille O’Neal in 2004.

Now, or soon, with the Feb. 6 trade deadline looming, Miami hopes to get in return for Butler some combination of a starting-caliber player, usable role players and/or draft picks. I’d not hold breath to get in exchange a star such as De’Aaron Fox of Sacramento, but Riley won’t give away for nothing. That’s if they trade him at all. Although the idea that the man who poisoned the Heat locker room by quitting on the team might return to it for the balance of this season is a tough one to fathom.

The return Miami gets for Butler is likely to be bridge assets that get Miami to the summer of 2026, when a potentially big free-agency class might intersect with lots of Heat spending money and maybe one last whale hunt by Riley.

All the while, Miami has life in this season, still, despite the Butler mess. Straight-up .500 at 23-23 is good enough for the edge of playoff contention in the East, or certainly for a play-in round.

Making the playoffs and maybe even surprising in them would be Miami’s greatest statement of resolve and flex of Heat Culture — to have overcome the capital-D distraction and drama that might have detonated this season.

Meantime the season Herro has had, what Ware pairing with Adebayo has meant for both, and the continuing and promise of Jovic and Jaquez have been bright spots to lead a future rid of Butler.