The Miami Heat have seen their season fall off a cliff in the weeks since they traded Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors. Miami currently sits ten games under .500 after their most recent loss to the New York Knicks and their schedule doesn’t get any easier from here
Meanwhile, things have been going swimmingly for Butler in the Bay Area, as the Warriors are now 14-2 in games he plays in. Recently, former Dallas Mavericks player Theo Pinson took to his “To The Baha” podcast to relay a shocking take about the Butler trade and how it compares to the Mavericks’ infamous Luka Doncic-Lakers deal.
“That is a worse trade than Dallas and the Lakers, by far… Jimmy Butler was Heat culture. Regardless of what the f*** you thought he was doing off the court, that motherf***** brought a toughness. He brought a mentality,” said Pinson, per NBA Central on X, formerly Twitter. “He had leadership. Bro, I swear to God, it did not matter what seed the Miami Heat were—if they got in the playoffs, any team that played them didn’t want to see him and had to buckle the f*** up.”
How bad was the Jimmy Butler trade?
It’s unlikely that many people will agree with Pinson’s take that the Heat’s trade of Butler was worse than the Doncic debacle, which is already on the short list of worst moves in sports history. For starters, Butler had essentially forced his way out of Miami by sitting out games, which caused the Heat to have to act quickly and likely lowered their return value. Doncic, meanwhile, reportedly gave no indication that he wanted a trade out of Dallas.
Still, it’s quite difficult to watch the Heat struggle without Butler in the lineup. New acquisition Andrew Wiggins has had some moments in Miami but hasn’t come close to replicating Butler’s production so far, and also has recently missed time due to injury.
In any case, Miami will look to end their brutal losing streak on Wednesday at home vs the Detroit Pistons.
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