Jimmy Butler Thrilled With Golden State Warriors As Miami Heat Game Looms

Golden State Warriors wing Jimmy Butler III is making his on-court return to South Florida on Tuesday night, but it’s not his first time being back in the area.

According to an in-depth piece in The Athletic released on Monday, Butler notified head coach Steve Kerr that he’d be meeting the team back in California after stopping over to see his kids in Miami on the heels of a lengthy East coast road trip.

“I pulled Steve aside and said, ‘Steve, I’m finna fly home and grab my kids,” Butler recalled. “He said, ‘Oh, OK. Yeah. See you back in the Bay.’ Like nothing else. Nothing.”

Butler has gotten used to having a level of freedom most players in the NBA don’t enjoy since he’s become an invaluable part of any team he’s been on since finally breaking through roughly a decade ago. 

Anyone who followed Butler’s time with the Heat closely knows that the franchise made concessions to their start that they didn’t afford to many members of the organization before him. This includes Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and even Shaquille O’Neal, who arrived as an established mega star and left in a messy, well-documented divorce in which both parties grew exasperated with one another.

Pat Riley runs the Miami Heat ship, and although his grip has grown slightly more relaxed over the years, it’s still old-school. No one is above the team, and when results aren’t there, exceptions won’t be made. 

The Heat allowed Butler to operate on his own timeline, dealing with family matters that included dealing with the passing of his father in February 2024. He even joined the team late upon his acquisition from the 76ers in 2019 because he was on paternity leave after the birth of his first child. 

Butler commands being treated differently because he acts differently and impacts the game in a manner that’s rather unique. With the Heat, injuries and absences set in and lead to him wearing out his welcome. When it came time to negotiate a contract extension, the concessions that were made on Butler’s behalf suddenly came to light and were thrown in his face.

“All of these stories come out about this and that,” Butler told The Athletic. “ You hear about it, but you don’t know why I do what I do. Don’t nobody know why I do what I do. You just see, ‘oh, he did this.’ Well, why did he do this? Do you think he just did it to f-ing do it? No. There’s always a reason behind it.”

The Warriors are 16-4 since acquiring Butler, going from Western Conference afterthought to contender. Miami, after suspending him multiple times for conduct detrimental to the team after he repeated acted out to force himself out, is 5-17 since dealing him to Golden State. Andrew Wiggins, the primary piece obtained in return for him, scored 42 points in a 122-105 Sunday win over Charlotte to snap a 10-game losing streak.

The Athletic article specified that Butler never mentioned Riley specifically in a 30-minute sitedown, but stated, “there’s little question that his split with the team stemmed from a deteriorated relationship with the Heat’s ultimate decision-maker in relation to the roster the Heat built – the title-level help Butler felt he didn’t receive – and, perhaps most damaging, Riley’s hands-on approach to everyday operations.”

Given the ‘what have you done for me lately’ world of the NBA, Butler’s union with the Warriors may not be blissful for the rest of time, but the honeymoon phase is certainly still in full bloom. He’s secured the extension he wanted and so long as he stays healthy, gives Golden State a much-needed edge that will allow franchise pillars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to continue to play relevant basketball despite growing older. 

“We need him, and he needs us,” Kerr said. “I think it’s perfect timing for his arrival.”

As Butler gets set to return to Miami’s Kaseya Center to what will likely be a mixture of cheers and boos, we’ll get another reminder that it was time for he and the Heat to part ways. Ironically, he’ll take the floor on a court now named for Riley during a period where the legendary team president’s influence is being questioned. 

ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins called for Riley to pass the torch last week. Miami will likely limp into the postseason play-in round as the No. 10 seed unless it can surpass the Bulls. They beat Chicago at home last season to earn the eighth spot and will likely have to do so on the road this time around just to earn the right to play at Atlanta and Orlando for the right to face the East’s top seed.

The Heat are stuck in traction. Butler wasn’t the first superstar commanding star treatment to come through Miami and won’t be the last. Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro view themselves as team lifers, but who is to say things won’t go sour? Butler’s return presents an opportunity for Miami to look in the mirror, but at the same time, every situation is different. 

With Butler, both parties were ready to be done. What’s going to happen with the next star?

“It’s all about whatever you need,” Butler told The Athletic about concessions that need to be made so that athletes can adhere to personal responsibilities in a taxing profession. “You would think every organization is like that: Whatever you need to make you happy, to make you healthy and to make you go out there and compete at an extremely high level….How can we keep you happy? How can we get you everything you possibly need to be successful and help us get a banner and a trophy?”

Tony Mejia is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at tnyce1414@gmail.com