MIAMI — Having dealt with his own contract contretemps with the Miami Heat, Heat icon Dwyane Wade said he appreciates the proactive approach friend and former teammate Jimmy Butler took in triggering his trade to the Golden State Warriors.
Speaking ahead of the Warriors’ visit Tuesday night to Kaseya Center, Wade said on Carmelo Anthony’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast that Butler forcing the Heat’s hand was all about a necessary leverage play, with Butler immediately receiving the contract extension with the Warriors that had been denied with the Heat.
“When you have the upper hand, you’ve got to take it,” Wade said. “And if it gets to the end of a season, the Miami Heat have the upper hand. Jimmy Butler took his upper hand before he could get to the end of the season.”
Had Butler remained with the Heat, the Heat would have controlled Butler’s future on the trade market or would have been needed by Butler as a partner for a sign-and-trade relocation.
Instead, Butler acted out with indifference toward the Heat season to the degree that he was suspended by the Heat three times without pay before being dealt to the Warriors at the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline.
“So no matter how loud it was, Jimmy did what Jimmy wanted to do. He put himself in a position where he took his upper hand in the time when he had it, to get what he wanted,” Wade said. “If the Heat took it to the end of their season, they now have the upper hand, and they get what they want, and it diminishes his value a little bit.”
In 2016, Wade allowed his Heat contract to expire, with the expectation of a lucrative new deal with the team. Instead, the Heat turned their attention elsewhere, leaving Wade to join Butler with his hometown Chicago Bulls, on a deal he deemed below his market value.
Wade eventually reconciled and returned to the Heat in 2018.
While Butler is unlikely to have a similar reunion, Wade said it is important that fences eventually be mended.
“For the legacy of the Miami Heat organization, I hope one day he can come back and sit courtside and we can all sit there and laugh and joke,” Wade said. “But, also, too, Jimmy might not ever come back.”
Among the reasons Butler cited for the divorce with the Heat was a move away from a high usage rate, to an offense titled more toward Tyler Herro.
So, Wade said, Butler had to look out for himself.
“The offense wasn’t about Jimmy no more over there,” Wade said. “It was more of an inclusive offense. ‘Tyler Herro, he’s now healthy, we’re pushing him up.’
“So Jimmy Butler’s one of the smartest human beings that I know. Let’s not get it twisted, he’s very smart, very calculated. And so I see your move player. I like it.”
Until Tuesday night, Butler’s previous visit to the Heat’s arena in an opposing uniform had been for Wade’s final Heat home game, a game with the Philadelphia 76ers that Butler said motivated him to move on to the Heat that summer in free agency.
The other side
Among the regrets in the wake of the Butler trade, Golden State coach Steve Kerr said, was former Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins not being scheduled a visit this season back to the Bay Arena in the way of the trade.
Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell and a protected Warriors 2025 first-round pick were acquired by the Heat in exchange for Butler.
“We’re all thrilled to see Wiggs,” Kerr said amid the Warriors’ preparations for Tuesday night. “Wiggs is one of my favorite guys. I wish we still had Miami in the Bay. So that will have to wait until next year.
“But Wiggs will get an enormous standing ovation when he returns to the Bay in front of our fans, both for his contributions and just for his humanity, who he is, what kind of person he is. He’s beloved in our locker room and throughout the Bay.”
Radio switch
With the start of the Miami Marlins’ season, effective Thursday, all remaining Heat regular-season and postseason Spanish-language game broadcasts will be shifted to Latin Media Network’s WQBA 1140 AM. That also includes all pregame and postgame programming.
