When Jimmy Butler first landed with the Miami Heat as a part of a sign-and-trade in 2019, it seemed like a match made in heaven. Butler had always been a hard-nosed, grind-it-out sort of star, the kind of player that oozes the intangible "culture" that the Heat aspire to curate and parlay into success.
The relationship has soured, though, with Butler reportedly "preferring" a trade out of Miami ahead of this season's NBA trade deadline. It would appear that one of the primary sore spots is between Butler and Pat Riley, the organization's lead basketball executive.
One leading incident has underscored the rift between Riley and Butler, with Butler taking exception to comments Riley made during his end-of-season press conference. Here's how Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of Miami Herald reported it:
