NBA rumors: Why Jimmy Butler wants to 'third wheel' next to Kevin Durant, Devin Booker
Yesterday at 01:15 PM
With Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler making his possible return Friday when the team hosts the Denver Nuggets, the drama has only amplified every day for the past several weeks. Besides contract disputes, one of Butler’s grievances has been his role with the offense which has received interesting details by ESPN that mention Phoenix Suns stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
Ramona Shelburne of ESPN has come out with the latest report detailing the feelings about Butler’s role with Miami and how there was a disconnect on who was being valued. While Butler “wasn’t upset” that Bam Adebayo was made the Heat’s captain, it proved as “validation” that wasn’t his team.
“Butler, who had just completed his fourth season in Miami and led the team to two NBA Finals, wasn’t upset by this choice, sources close to him said, but it did serve as validation,” Shelburne wrote about Butler’s reaction to Adebayo being named the team captain after Udonis Haslem retired. “He might be the Heat’s best player, but it wasn’t truly his team. Adebayo and young guard Tyler Herro were the Heat’s future, not him.”
Besides the captain which wasn’t that big of an issue, it stemmed from Butler reportedly thinking that the Heat were “prioritizing” players like Adebayo and the Heat’s All-Star hopeful Tyler Herro.
If Jimmy Butler were to be “second or third wheel,” it would be with Suns
Shelburne would say that Butler was believed to have just stood in the corner and waited for an action, which was seen heavily in the two games he returned after being 13 days away from the team due to a sickness.
“The disconnect only grew. On the court, Butler began to believe that the Heat were prioritizing Adebayo and Herro over him, sources close to Butler said,” Shelburne wrote. “They were the hub of the offense, and he was just supposed to run down to the corner and be ready to drive or shoot a 3-pointer. But Butler didn’t like what he believed was a reduced role in the offense — how it felt or what it represented.”
In the second of those aforementioned games on Jan. 2, Butler would say he lost his “joy” of playing basketball and responded “probably not” when asked if it could be regained with Miami. The Heat would suspend Butler for seven games the day after for “conduct detrimental to the team.”
How this relates to Durant and Booker is that a “source close to Butler” told and implied to Shelburne that Butler rather be a “second or third wheel” to them rather than Adebayo and Herro.
“If they’re doing this transition to Bam and Tyler, Jimmy’s like, ‘Fine, do your transition,'” Shelburne wrote on what a source close to Butler said. “If [he’s] going to be the second or third wheel, [he’ll] be that in Phoenix to Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.”
At any rate, fans could take any report with a grain of salt and will wait to see what happens when the Heat and possibly Butler take the court on Friday night when they face the Nuggets.
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