Golden State Warriors star forward Jimmy Butler started the 2024-25 campaign as a member of the Miami Heat and changed teams midway through the season. As many know, the breakup between the Heat and Butler was anything but pleasant.
In the time leading up to Butler getting traded to the Warriors, he publicly made it clear that he wanted to be moved, and the Heat also suspended him numerous times in that span.
The Heat are now months removed from the Butler saga, and former Heat big man Udonis Haslem, who currently serves as the team’s vice president of basketball development, said he was going to “whoop Jimmy a–” before letting him take down Miami’s locker room.
“I was gonna whoop Jimmy’s ass 😂😂
I love Jimmy but I wasn’t gonna let one guy take down an entire locker room” ~ @ThisIsUD #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/yasnY050V4
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Haslem spent the twilight of his playing career with Butler in Miami, and Butler almost helped Haslem add another ring to his collection. The Heat reached the NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023 thanks in large part to playoff heroics from the 35-year-old.
After Butler got shipped to the Warriors in a five-team deal, the remainder of the Heat’s campaign was a roller coaster. Miami lost 10 games in a row in March, which marked the longest losing streak of head coach Erik Spoelstra’s lengthy tenure with the Heat.
However, the Heat responded to that losing streak with a six-game winning streak, and they earned the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference through some success in the play-in tournament.
Whether it was in the best interest of the Heat to make the playoffs is an interesting question, however, as they were utterly dominated in their first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Miami got swept and lost its two playoff games at Kaseya Center in particularly embarrassing fashion. The Heat dropped both contests by well over 30 points each, with Miami being eliminated from the playoffs thanks to a 55-point loss in Game 4.
