With all the drama between the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler, it has been the main topic of conversation within the basketball media world. A bevy of former players such as Gilbert Arenas has spoken about Butler’s situation, but add Tim Hardaway Sr. to the list as he has experience with the Heat and president Pat Riley.Hardaway was on SiriusXM NBA Radio and spoke about the ongoing odyssey with the Miami star and was heavily criticizing how the 35-year-old has been going about it. He would say that Butler has been disrespecting “authority” and that he will be unable to “sink” the ship that Riley has built, plus speaks on how “mind-boggling” it is to Hardaway that the forward won’t opt-in to his over $50 million player option.
“You don’t disrespect authority, and that’s what Jimmy Butler has been doing,” Hardaway said. “And I tell you this, Pat Riley, this boat is going to sail on top of the water as long as Pat Riley is there, Jimmy Butler is trying to sink that ship. That ship is not going to sink. I’m all with Pat Riley. You under contract, you know, you play up under this contract. We may see where all the chips may fall, but, and you can opt into $52 million next year that you say you’re not going to opt into, which is mind-boggling to me. How you gonna opt out of $52 million all right, but you know, it’s all about authority saying no to somebody, and these guys can’t take rejection, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Butler has been seeking a new contract extension with the Heat since last season, but Riley had been non-committal in granting him one.
Tim Hardaway ponders what Pat Riley will show NBPA on Jimmy Butler
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
After, Riley told Butler to “keep your mouth shut” during his viral end-of-season press conference last May because of boasting while being injured during the last playoffs.
In terms of recent events, after Miami lost to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 2 Butler said that he lost his “joy” of playing basketball and responded “probably not” when asked if he can regain it with the team. The Heat would suspend Butler for seven games “due to conduct detrimental to the team” as Hardaway would even say that he knows Riley gave the National Basketball Players Association a “10-page letter” and film of why they took action that way.
“It’s about accountability. If you can’t take rejection, because everything has been saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes to you, now you upset that the world is coming to an end,” Butler said. “Oh, I can’t play now, because he’s not gonna give me the money that I want. No, go out there and play, you are under contract. Go ahead and play. I know Pat, and that’s what it’s doing. That’s what’s happening. And I knew that. I said, Look, Pat got a 10-page letter to the Players Association, and he gonna have film showing why he suspended this man before that even happened. And guess what? He suspended him for seven games, and I know he gave them a 10-page letter, and I know he gave them some film to show him why he’s suspended.”
At any rate, the Heat still has a season to play as they next face the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night as Butler is eligible to return on Jan. 17 when the team hosts the Denver Nuggets.
