Jimmy Butler and Pat Riley Appear to Have Growing Rift Amid Trade Buzz

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:

A source said that Butler was caught off guard when Heat president Pat Riley, during a May news conference, scolded him for saying that “Boston would be at home” and “New York damn sure would be [expletive] at home” if Butler had been healthy for Miami’s five-game first-round playoff playoff loss against the Celtics, which he missed because of a knee injury.

“For him to say that, I thought, ‘Is that Jimmy trolling, or is that Jimmy serious?’” Riley said during his end-of-season press conference. “If you’re not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut.”

The report went on to suggest that Butler was disappointed the organization did not publicly deny a report that the team was open to moving him. There's also reported frustration over Miami not offering Butler a lucrative max contract extension this past offseason. Reports have come out on four Western Conference teams Butler would like to be traded to, with the last of which causing a social media spat between Butler and ESPN reporter Shams Charania.

Jackson also reported in a Tweet that Butler did not attend Riley's Christmas party, however, Jackson said that he had also not attended the party in previous years.