While the San Antonio Spurs is centered around Victor Wembanyama, the team could be looking to add another piece in the form of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler. As Butler has been in many rumors involving his exit from the Heat, new reporting from ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel could signal that the Spurs are watching the situation involving the 35-year old star.
There have been several other teams mentioned in a possible sweepstakes for Butler like the Golden State Warriors and even the Los Angeles Lakers as Siegel mentioned. However, he would say that San Antonio could be a “dark-horse landing spot” for Butler as they look for another playmaker to pair with Wembanyama.
“Naturally, everything will be decided by what the Heat do with Butler,” Siegel wrote. “Various teams, including the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, and Los Angeles Lakers, have expressed interest in Butler dating back to the offseason. One executive named the San Antonio Spurs as a dark-horse landing spot for Butler if he hit the trade market, due to their young core highlighted by Victor Wembanyama.”
How the Spurs could be involved with the Heat’s Jimmy Butler
Despite all the success with Miami, the discussion around a possible split erupted when Butler was originally seeking a $113 million contract extension this offseason. The team wouldn’t budge which has left the star to play out this season in the opportunity to enter free agency after the season where he could either return to the Heat or don a new jersey.
“The only way that the Heat would potentially trade their star wing is if the organization decides that an extension is not in the cards next offseason,” Siegel wrote. “In that instance, the team would be looking to salvage value and restock on lost assets from previous trades in order to make a push for a different superstar.”
Heat’s Pat Riley has been non-committal on Jimmy Butler extension
What started the controversy was when Heat president Pat Riley was non-committal in giving Butler a contract extension during his viral end of season press conference back in May after Miami lost to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Riley would cite player availability as a reason since Butler hasn’t played more than 64 games with the team in his stint.
“Well, you know, we don’t have to do that for a year and so we have not discussed that internally right now but we have to look at that and then making that kind of commitment,” Riley said last May. “We don’t have to do it until 25 actually, but we’ll see. We haven’t made a decision on it. And we really haven’t really in earnest. discussed it. So we’ll see what happens.”
“Well, I mean, if you request we can either accept or we can say we’re going to think about it,” Riley continued. “We’ve not made a decision on it and I think you can make too much out of this. You still got two years left on the contract. Theoretically he’s got a player option, but that’s something that we have to give some real thought to based on a lot of factors. I don’t want to go through the litany of factors right now because they all go up into different hypotheticals, but yeah, that’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless you’re somebody who’s really going to be there and available every single night, that’s the truth.”
Heat’s Jimmy Butler responds to Pat Riley
There is no doubt that a pairing of Butler and Wembanyama would be an interesting one, but it seems still that there are other teams in the mix, and that is if Miami is willing to part ways. Butler would even respond to Riley’s comments about him during the Heat’s media day where he understood where the iconic coach and executive is coming from.
“Of course, always want to hoop, always want to be out there for all my guys,” Butler said. “I hear him, I see what he’s talking about.”
“I got to prove that I’m a major part of winning,” Butler continued. “Rightfully so, I’ve done it before, this is, this is no different. This is gonna be a great year for myself. It’s gonna be a great year for the group of guys, so that’ll take care of itself when that time comes around.”
Butler has been a main part in leading Miami to two NBA Finals appearances which the Spurs have not done since 2014 where they ironically beat the Heat led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.
Related San Antonio Spurs NewsArticle continues below
Before the start of the season, Riley would again be asked about Butler from the media about the possibility of him leaving through free agency and if there has been any talks of a possible extension.
Heat’s Pat Riley “living in the present moment” on Jimmy Butler situation
Riley’s answers would indicate that he is “living in the present moment” according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“I wouldn’t want to,” Riley said. “He’s going to have the ability to opt and we’re going to have the ability to extend. So I’m trying to get all that thinking out of our heads because it’s living in the present moment and playing basketball. So if there’s something that’s going to drag me down or him down because of that, then we’re not going to perform at a certain level. But I think he’s embraced exactly where he’s at, I think he understands where we’re at.”
“I haven’t had a lot of conversation with Jimmy about it,” Riley said of Butler’s contract status. “I’ve talked to his agent at times. … I don’t have to sit down and have these meetings with [Butler] any more. He’s a very intelligent man.”
A humorous aspect of a possible Butler and Spurs alignment would be that during a preseason game between Miami and San Antonio on Oct. 15, there would be some drama. Butler and point guard Chris Paul got into a heated exchange as the two have have got into verbal battles before in the past as early as 202o.
Still, San Antonio will keep their eyes peeled to Butler’s market involving the Heat as they are currently 4-5 which puts them 12th in the Western Conference. Their next game is Saturday night against the Utah Jazz.