The Miami Heat are suspending Jimmy Butler indefinitely

[BBallFreak]

It’s kind of stupid though. If you’re willing to lose him for nothing, then why not find a deal that gets you expiring contracts and picks? This is just Heat being petty, yes Jimmy has been a pain in the ass but at this point you’re lowering his value.

If you were a team other than the Suns, knowing Jimmy only wants the Suns, would you give that up for him?

Well it’s up to the Heat to find the market for Butler especially if there’s only one other team in play. Riley thinks he has options but if I’m a team not named the Suns the longer this drama drags out the less I’m willing to treat Butler as anything than an expiring contract which means Butler’s trade value is dropping because of this pissing match between Jimmy and Riley.

Do you not know who Jimmy is? Is this the first time he's acted like a douche while trying to leave a team?

He only wants the Suns. That's been clear since he asked for a trade and the only thing they have to offer is Bradley Beal. Hardly expiring. Would you give up expiring contracts for Beal without taking every pick the Suns have if you were a third team?

[Plossum]

Didn’t take much for Jimmy to poke a sizeable hole in that renowned Heat Culture.

[stillgotgame]

I was a Riley fan, but this reeks of "plantation owner" mentality where these players are seen as personal property.

wtf is wrong with you man. People feeling like this is a huge part of what’s wrong with society today.

Only in a country that is so privileged would someone bring up “plantation owner” and a player being “personal property” when the guy is getting paid 50 million a year to play basketball. Gtfo of here

"A particular theme that the NBA has adopted from general society is the legacy of the plantation mentality. Though in today’s world, star basketball players are routinely paid millions of dollars to demonstrate their physical abilities, there are still a shocking amount of parallels between today’s owner-athlete relationship and the slave master-slave relationship of 200 hundred years ago. There is a pattern of NBA owners, or in today’s lingo “team governors”, who look at athletes not as fellow men or staff, but as property or bodies to control. "

I think you need to GTFO since you made it personal. Just because you haven't realized it in your bubble doesnt mean it isn't real. It's like saying racism doesn't exist.

Suspending him for leaving practice or missing a team flight is a plantation mentality?
Wake up man. There's other reasons for why people do things besides racism.

[AmIWrongDude]

- Jimmy causes issues everywhere he goes
- Jimmy is old and makes $50m a year
- Jimmy isn’t great anymore

How do people blame the Heat?

[DaPessimist]

Jimmy losing a lot of money. I imagine the PA will help him get most of it back.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

- Jimmy causes issues everywhere he goes
- Jimmy is old and makes $50m a year
- Jimmy isn’t great anymore

How do people blame the Heat?

I don't even mind if people blame the Heat somewhat or want to see Miami fail, but to me this is becoming bigger than Miami vs Jimmy, its players vs gms/owners being fought in real time, and figuring out whether guaranteed contracts actually mean anything in this sport on the players end. I'd love an actual answer to this, forget Miami, I was tired of it with Dame and others dictating where they will get traded to, tired of it with guys like Harden and Kawhi and even Vince back in the day picking and choosing when to show up and play hard.

I hope this comes to a head and we as fans get some sort of resolution. Either get rid of guaranteed contracts, or start normalizing player suspensions when they pull this sort of BS.

[MVP1992]

If you were a team other than the Suns, knowing Jimmy only wants the Suns, would you give that up for him?

Well it’s up to the Heat to find the market for Butler especially if there’s only one other team in play. Riley thinks he has options but if I’m a team not named the Suns the longer this drama drags out the less I’m willing to treat Butler as anything than an expiring contract which means Butler’s trade value is dropping because of this pissing match between Jimmy and Riley.

Do you not know who Jimmy is? Is this the first time he's acted like a douche while trying to leave a team?

He only wants the Suns. That's been clear since he asked for a trade and the only thing they have to offer is Bradley Beal. Hardly expiring. Would you give up expiring contracts for Beal without taking every pick the Suns have if you were a third team?

Has he actually said (per reports) he's willing to go anywhere but the Grizzlies?

Please send him to the Grizzlies

[BBallFreak]

Well it’s up to the Heat to find the market for Butler especially if there’s only one other team in play. Riley thinks he has options but if I’m a team not named the Suns the longer this drama drags out the less I’m willing to treat Butler as anything than an expiring contract which means Butler’s trade value is dropping because of this pissing match between Jimmy and Riley.

Do you not know who Jimmy is? Is this the first time he's acted like a douche while trying to leave a team?

He only wants the Suns. That's been clear since he asked for a trade and the only thing they have to offer is Bradley Beal. Hardly expiring. Would you give up expiring contracts for Beal without taking every pick the Suns have if you were a third team?

Has he actually said (per reports) he's willing to go anywhere but the Grizzlies?

Please send him to the Grizzlies

I would love to but if you were the Grizzlies, why would you want that drama?

No one is going to trade for Jimmy unless they know he's willing to give his best to them. Right now, they're seeing this nonsense...

[MrBigShot]

Nobody wins in this situation

And jimmy is going to get his money eventually when the NBPA files a grievance anyway, Ben simmons straight up refused to play or practice and he got his money.

You don't know that they've documented his behaviour. This won't affect Miami only Jimmy loses here.

There are very strict rules that all teams have to follow in an nba contract. You can't just ban a player indefinitely and not pay him because he misses a few team meetings.

Jimmy will get his money eventually, you can quote me on that. Riley knows this, he's doing this on principle.

[Pointgod]

If you were a team other than the Suns, knowing Jimmy only wants the Suns, would you give that up for him?

Well it’s up to the Heat to find the market for Butler especially if there’s only one other team in play. Riley thinks he has options but if I’m a team not named the Suns the longer this drama drags out the less I’m willing to treat Butler as anything than an expiring contract which means Butler’s trade value is dropping because of this pissing match between Jimmy and Riley.

Do you not know who Jimmy is? Is this the first time he's acted like a douche while trying to leave a team?

He only wants the Suns. That's been clear since he asked for a trade and the only thing they have to offer is Bradley Beal. Hardly expiring. Would you give up expiring contracts for Beal without taking every pick the Suns have if you were a third team?

Well here in lies the problem because Riley is asking for everything for 35 year old player on an expiring contract. He doesn’t want to take back long term salary, he also wants players that can contribute plus he wants picks. He’s going to have to be flexible in his ask or else Butler is just going to opt into his contract and Heat can go through this again next year.

[Dez]

The Heat have done a magnificent job shifting the entirety of the blame to Butler.

They've manipulated him beautifully so they can suspend him indefinitely. They knew exactly how he'd react to being told he's coming off the bench and it gave them the perfect excuse.

It's even got people to ignore the stupid move of bringing him off the bench for Highsmith.

[BBallFreak]

Well it’s up to the Heat to find the market for Butler especially if there’s only one other team in play. Riley thinks he has options but if I’m a team not named the Suns the longer this drama drags out the less I’m willing to treat Butler as anything than an expiring contract which means Butler’s trade value is dropping because of this pissing match between Jimmy and Riley.

Do you not know who Jimmy is? Is this the first time he's acted like a douche while trying to leave a team?

He only wants the Suns. That's been clear since he asked for a trade and the only thing they have to offer is Bradley Beal. Hardly expiring. Would you give up expiring contracts for Beal without taking every pick the Suns have if you were a third team?

Well here in lies the problem because Riley is asking for everything for 35 year old player on an expiring contract. He doesn’t want to take back long term salary, he also wants players that can contribute plus he wants picks. He’s going to have to be flexible in his ask or else Butler is just going to opt into his contract and Heat can go through this again next year.

I fail to see your point.

Of course, that's the problem! But it's not just Riley being stubborn about the situation. It's Jimmy, too. If he wants out so badly and so quickly, he needs to expand his list.

This isn't just Riley saying "I want the works and won't settle for less" this is Jimmy putting Riley in a position where he never had a chance to get any value for him, period. He publicly demanded a trade, made it a list of one team that didn't have the assets, and tanked his value so we couldn't get him trade him to... For example... Milwaukee, because why would anyone trade anything of value for him when he's just going to act like this, there?

[Heat3]

The Heat have done a magnificent job shifting the entirety of the blame to Butler.

They've manipulated him beautifully so they can suspend him indefinitely. They knew exactly how he'd react to being told he's coming off the bench and it gave them the perfect excuse.

It's even got people to ignore the stupid move of bringing him off the bench for Highsmith.

His reaction was predictable, but the move is not dumb and it wasn't done for the sole reason to piss him off. He is purposefully dogging it out there. Everyone knows Butler is better than Highsmith if they played to the best of their ability. But he is clearly not doing that. Why even start someone that is coming and going from the team?

[DirtyDez]

Riley and the Heat are playing this fine. If he wants out bad enough he can opt out this summer.

[AmIWrongDude]

- Jimmy causes issues everywhere he goes
- Jimmy is old and makes $50m a year
- Jimmy isn’t great anymore

How do people blame the Heat?

I don't even mind if people blame the Heat somewhat or want to see Miami fail, but to me this is becoming bigger than Miami vs Jimmy, its players vs gms/owners being fought in real time, and figuring out whether guaranteed contracts actually mean anything in this sport on the players end. I'd love an actual answer to this, forget Miami, I was tired of it with Dame and others dictating where they will get traded to, tired of it with guys like Harden and Kawhi and even Vince back in the day picking and choosing when to show up and play hard.

I hope this comes to a head and we as fans get some sort of resolution. Either get rid of guaranteed contracts, or start normalizing player suspensions when they pull this sort of BS.

Absolutely normalize suspensions for stuff like this. Guys sign contracts for huge money and then whine and whine when they actually have to fulfill it.

[JujitsuFlip]

The Heat have done a magnificent job shifting the entirety of the blame to Butler.

They've manipulated him beautifully so they can suspend him indefinitely. They knew exactly how he'd react to being told he's coming off the bench and it gave them the perfect excuse.

It's even got people to ignore the stupid move of bringing him off the bench for Highsmith.

It's funny though, they said indefinitely but then the fine print says at minimum 5 games.

So, essentially until the trade deadline.

[BarryLird]

Riley said FAFO.

About time these spoiled brats get put in their place. NBA teams need to do this more often. The bad behavior and lack of professionalism by today's players has gotten way out of hand.

[Eightnineborn]

Butler is a trash human being.. and not much better as a player at this point of his career

[Pointgod]

Do you not know who Jimmy is? Is this the first time he's acted like a douche while trying to leave a team?

He only wants the Suns. That's been clear since he asked for a trade and the only thing they have to offer is Bradley Beal. Hardly expiring. Would you give up expiring contracts for Beal without taking every pick the Suns have if you were a third team?

Well here in lies the problem because Riley is asking for everything for 35 year old player on an expiring contract. He doesn’t want to take back long term salary, he also wants players that can contribute plus he wants picks. He’s going to have to be flexible in his ask or else Butler is just going to opt into his contract and Heat can go through this again next year.

I fail to see your point.

Of course, that's the problem! But it's not just Riley being stubborn about the situation. It's Jimmy, too. If he wants out so badly and so quickly, he needs to expand his list.

This isn't just Riley saying "I want the works and won't settle for less" this is Jimmy putting Riley in a position where he never had a chance to get any value for him, period. He publicly demanded a trade, made it a list of one team that didn't have the assets, and tanked his value so we couldn't get him trade him to... For example... Milwaukee, because why would anyone trade anything of value for him when he's just going to act like this, there?

These things tend to work out for the superstar trying to get to a certain destination. We went through this with James Harden forcing his way to the Clippers. Morey was posturing for weeks and only to end up trading him for expiring contracts and picks. What real market is there for a 35 year old expiring Butler? Either Riley needs to find a third team that will give him some of what he wants or he squeezes Phoenix for Beal, Ryan Dunn and 2-3 firsts and moves on. This pissing match does nothing to improve the Heat’s position.

[EArl]

Just trade him already........

Need a good offer first....

That's definitely not happening now. The longer they wait, the worst it gets.