Heat’s Jimmy Butler TRADE Revisited — Did Miami Win Trade With Warriors? | Miami Heat Podcast

Heat’s Jimmy Butler TRADE Revisited — Did Miami Win Trade With Warriors? | Miami Heat Podcast

Miami host the Golden State Warriors. So, we preview the game and revisit the Jimmy Butler trade. Wes, any regrets about the trade? Only that I wasn’t more critical of Jimmy Butler leading up to it. You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. David, did you know that we can’t say in the galaxy? Somebody on the network said that we’re now the number one sports podcast network in the galaxy. And we got a note as a network that said technically we don’t know if that’s true, so we can’t say. That’s true. It’s possible that there might be some distant solar system out there where there’s a really awesome podcast that for some reason might talk about sports on Earth, but who knows? That’s true. The number one Can we say we could probably say the number one earthbased sports podcast network in the galaxy. I like it. Rings. All right, let’s see if we get the show note here. Welcome to Locked on Heat. Bring it back from the top. Welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Part of the locked on podcast network. now the number one earthbased sports podcast network in the galaxy on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app. Thank you for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Join the cookie gang and become an everydayer. That means listening every day and subscribing. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Locked on NBA Daily and Real Jam Radio. I’m here with David Rmill. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. We have a big show for you today. We are going to revisit the Jimmy Butler trade with the Warriors coming into town on Wednesday night. We’re also going to break down the matchup. We’ll talk about BAM out of Bio status for the game as well. But let’s just start, David, by setting the stage for this one. Uh you and I had this game circled as soon as the schedule came out. I think a lot of Heat fans did, but the organization here downplaying this quite a bit. Not sure that I’m surprised by that, but the players were asked uh at practice this week about how they felt about it and they were predictably sort of downplayed it. Eric Spolster was asked about it and he asked how many times they need to play before this is not a story anymore. He said, “We already did this. Why is this still a story?” So, I’ll throw it to you, David. I mean, is this still a story? Do you think that this is still a relevant storyline to talk about Jimmy Butler returning to Miami? Now, we obviously they played once after the trade deadline with Butler in a Warriors jersey, but this is the second time back in Miami with both teams in a little bit of a different spot now. Absolutely. Still a story. Like the trade took place nine months ago and Jimmy Butler was a part of this organization for five and a half years. There’s no way that it wouldn’t be a story. And you know what? I think there’s a little disingenuity there from Eric Spolzer that it’s not a big deal. I’m sure the players are going to downplay it. What are they gonna do? Go on there and look petty and say, “Yeah, we can’t wait to take on Jimmy Butler. We want to really show him up and prove to him what they did last year when they blew the Warriors out at home and and prove that maybe there’s some hard feelings there and that they can still thrive without him.” They’re not going to say that. They’re professional athletes. They’re grown men. They don’t want to show that kind of side publicly, but it’s absolutely a motivating factor. And anybody that says otherwise, like I said, is purposely hiding the truth. And so I can’t blame him for it because I understand how sports work. I understand how these things come across if they do say, “Yeah, of course it’s a big deal.” But I know it’s a storyline. You know what? LeBron James was left 11 years ago and it’s still a story every time he plays in Miami. every time he comes in here, you know, you spent four years here, but you know, they always ask him about it because he spent part of his time here. He was part of the defining culture of this organization. And so, it’ll always be an important storyline. And something that just happened nine months ago can’t be so quickly dismissed or overlooked. These teams feel very different. Both the Heat and the Warriors feel like they’re in very different places, but when you get down to the rosters, they’re very similar rosters. Bam played basically his entire career as a starter with Jimmy Butler. Talahiro has played his entire career up until this season with Jimmy Butler. Nikico Yoic Haka Jr. these guys were brought into the league with Jimmy Butler as a veteran and ostensibly a leader in that locker room. And so yes, this roster very different than the LeBron James thing, right? Because nobody on the Heat right now played with LeBron. But with Jimmy Butler, all these guys basically played with Jimmy. and you are if you’re in that locker room and you talk to these players and some of these quotes have started to make their way out but you hear it a lot and it’s not it’s not always hey it was like this with Jimmy and now it’s not it’s a little bit more nuanced than that you kind of have to read between the lines but there are a lot of comments from players about how much different it is this year Tyler and the vi Tyler was just what he just was asked about this what two days ago on Monday in his first practice with the team how we how to defer to other players. What other players are there? Like there are no other players on this team. We had to defer to other players play style. We had to slow it down because of other players. And it’s like, hm, I didn’t realize I didn’t real I know K’s nickname was slow-mo, but I didn’t realize he had that big of an impact. Thanks a lot, Kevin Love. You know, that’s clear who he’s talking about. So, Alec Burks, slow it down for you. Unbelievable. Yeah. Uh, it’s hilarious. U, so it’s it’s got to be a motivating factor and that it should be like, you know, there was bad blood there. It ended badly and I totally understand why there is a the need to kind of want to prove something as a team, as a professional athlete, as a as even from a a kind of male perspective. It’s like, you know what, I I don’t need you, big bro. Thanks a lot for everything you’ve done, but we’re good. We’re all good here. Uh, one of my my boss one time left on paternity leave uh, and this was several several years ago at a very different kind of job. And I used that as a motivating factor. It is just sort of our dumb male lizard brains kind of do this, right? Where it’s just like you’re going to be out for 6 months on paternity leave. It was California, so you get a little bit longer. And it I’ll show you. I don’t need you like you and your family. Like I don’t like whatever, you know? It’s just our dumb male lizard brains will always kind of be like, “Let me let me show that I can step up in this moment.” And by the way, there you mentioned sort of the way that it ended. I’m not here to assign blame. Everybody knows how I feel about the Jimmy Butler thing at this point, right? It has nothing to do with that. He did quit on the team. Whether you are anti-organization and how they handled the Jimmy Butler trade or whatever, wherever you stand on the Jimmy Butler, if Jimmy Butler still is your favorite Heat player of all time, and I know there’s a lot of Heat fans that feel that way, and I try to sympathize with that, the fact is he quit on the team. And if you’re a player in that locker room, he quit on you. So if you’re Bam, if you’re somebody else in that locker room, yes, you take that personally. And maybe you could even say, I understand the reasons why the business is the business, all these things. Still, he quit on the team. And if you’re a player in that locker room, you have to take that personally. Uh, Heat fans, the first time these teams played in Miami when Jimmy Butler made his first return after the trade deadline, you and I talked a lot going into that game. What was the reception going to be like from Heat fans in that building? Yeah. And I recall a kind of 5050 split between booze and Cheers. I think it was a little higher on the cheers end. Like there were a smattering of booze, but it wasn’t the vitrolic response that say Kevin Durant returning to Oklahoma City or even LeBron James. Like um there those were much more contentious. This was I I I remember a lot of people saying that. I’m like maybe there was just a lot of booze in my section where I was sitting maybe and they weren’t from me. I swear to God I wasn’t the one doing it. But um what do you think now? because I kind of feel like right now Heat fans have moved past the Jimmy Butler stuff a little bit more than certainly that they were at the time. And given how the roster looks and how this team is playing, there’s a little bit less vitriol for the front office and the organization itself in its handling for the Jimmy Butler situation. Yep. How do you think it goes now? Do you think there’s more booze, less? It could be more booze because now it’s, hey, we’ve moved on and we’re gonna boo you because of it. Or it could just be like, “Yeah, we moved on. We don’t really care anymore. We don’t even care enough to boo you anymore.” I think just as a society, we have such short attention spans for this kind of thing that I don’t know that it’s necessarily going to have the same sort of, no pun intended, heat behind it. Like there there just won’t be that same anger there. They’ll be disappointed, but I think I think fans will handle it, but there’s going to be some fan. Look, the combination of sports and fanaticism and alcohol always make for a good combination, especially when you’re upset about a player leaving the franchise the way that Jimmy did. So, I’m sure you’ll have a couple fans that will boo, but by and large, I think he’ll probably get a more mostly positive reception. I think it’ll be less, but I think it’ll be some positivity or or just indifference. I’m going to guess more booze than last time. How I don’t see how like those things don’t they typically Wayne over time. I think people are feeling better about this team and it’s going to be more like, hey, we’re supporting this team now by booing you for leaving. I don’t know. It’s possible. It’s possible. Um, it’s going to be interesting to see. People love to boo. People love a good excuse to boo. And it’s just different. You can technically boo anybody, but it doesn’t make a ton of sense to boo Anthony Towns as a Heat fan, right? It just it makes a lot of sense to booie Butler. I don’t know. I just I think there might be a little bit more booze. We’ll see. Um, look, we talked about the emotions, the atmosphere, all of that. We’ve already set the stage. How did we get here, though? After the break, we’re going to revisit the blockbuster trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors. What went right, what went wrong, and whether either team should regret it. Today’s episode is brought to you by Skiims. When Skiims announced that they were making underwear for men, the reaction made perfect sense. People have been talking about Skiim’s comfort for years. Most guys, though, they stick to whatever they’ve been buying since college, maybe even longer. the same fits, the same waistbands that roll and a whole lot of settling. Well, Skiims men has changed all that. 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And right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanuel.com, sign up, and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. We’ll be right back. I don’t want to get into the specific details of the trade. It involved multiple teams. There was players involved that are not with the Heat anymore. But here’s the net net of the trade nine months later. This is what essentially the Heat got for Jimmy Butler. They got Andrew Wiggins. They got DaVon Mitchell. They got Kasparus Yakonis. You could also say that they got Norm Powell because without the Jimmy Butler trade now, not having not having Jimmy’s $50 million contract on the books that created the space in order to acquire Norm Pal. Remember, they sent out a lot less money to get Pal, right? They sent out Anderson and Love and they got Pal who’s making 20 plus million dollars. So, I think it’s fair to say that for Jimmy Butler, the Heat got Wiggins, DaVon Mitchell, Casparis, Yakonis, and I’m going to throw Norm Powell into that mix. Looking back on it now, David, I was harsh on the trade at the time. Sure, it looks a lot better in retrospect at this point. Yeah, if you include Powell in there and the aggregate that that certainly skews in Miami’s favor. Uh he he’s been so great to start the season. he’s been such a big part. So, you get two quality starters and Pal and Wiggins. Uh you get a potential future player in Casper, you know, somebody who can projects to be a long-term fit in Miami and who has some star potential given his size and playmaking ability. So, uh you look at that, it’s like, yeah, that’s not a bad deal at all. But, uh without Powell, maybe the conversation changes a little bit. But even still though, I I when you look at the the deal and what was necessary for Miami, I think it was the best deal available. They got something that they needed. They got the the the picks that they needed. They got the players that they wanted that fit the immediate schedule of this team and were perfectly complimentary to Bambio. Um, I know you trade a superstar and Jimmy, and I think you can give him that moniker, the superstar moniker, but given his age and contract demands, you were never going to get equal value back for a player like Butler. So, you have to get something that fits what you’re looking for. In Miami’s case, they were looking to compete. They thought they had a chance last year, at least being a playoff team. They did eventually make the playoffs after getting through the playin tournament yet again. Something they did with Jimmy on the roster, without Jimmy on the roster, so it didn’t really matter. But uh I think that they were looking to make additions that would fit this roster and complement Tyler Herro and Bam Bio and they did that and you know what it worked out really well because now you have a player in Powell who fits a totally revamped system. It shows the flexibility of Eric Spolster to make adjustments to fit the roster and as Tyler pointed out as you just detailed now they have a whole new style of play that works out so well. one day you couldn’t have implemented with Butler in the rotation nor without these four players in the rotation. All of them fit the system perfect. Pal is a perfect fit for the system with his quick decision-m. Andrew Wiggins, the way that he runs the wing in transition is elite elite stuff. His athleticism, he’s far more athletic than Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler’s not dunking that gamewinner against Cleveland. Maybe he got Did Did he dunk the game winner against Chicago in a very similar play? Did he lay that one up? I can’t remember. Uh, I don’t remember. I know he had that layup against Milwaukee at the buzzer, too. Um, DaVon Mitchell, perfect fit for this system. You draft Kasparus Yakonis who surprisingly slides to you, but he’s also theoretically as a rookie a perfect fit for this system. You got four guys, four rotation level players, assuming that C Yakatronis develops into that in a for a fast-paced modern system where with Jimmy Butler the last couple years, you were being left behind by NBA offenses. There’s no debate in that. You are being left behind. This team was bottom 10 in offense, bottom 10 in offense, bottom 10 in offense, three years running. This team is now not bottom 10 in offense anymore. And I would say this team is better in the regular season right now than it was better in the regular season last year. There’s no question about that in my mind. And I’ll dis I’ll push back on what you said there before that you were never going to get equal value for Jimmy Butler. If you ask most if you ask every franchise in the league, okay, don’t worry about the salary cap stuff necessarily right now, but if I could give you either Jimmy Butler at this stage of his career, or you could take Wiggins, DaVon Mitchell, Kasparus, Yakatonus, and Norm Pal right now, which one are you taking? There’s a I don’t I there’s a lot of organizations that take the Wiggins, Mitchell Pal, Yakonis package over just taking Jimmy Butler at 36 years old. I don’t know. I don’t know. I I I think, look, I think Warriors fans are a mixed bag in terms of, and you would speak to this more than I would, but I I think they appreciate what Jimmy did last year. I think they were encouraged by his capacity to put up big numbers in playoff situations, and they had a good run after he was acquired. But I think there’s also a kind of growing concern about whether or not he’s going to be consistent. And yet I kind of bet I sent you a link to locked on Warriors. I say just listen around 29 minutes of this postgame show and they’re like we don’t get it. Jimmy Butler he just has these wideopen shots and he just does he passes them up the teammates. Why is he passing up these shots? Why is he only taking three field goal attempts? I’m like this is crazy that we’re already here. Warriors fans are already here with Jimmy Butler. Well, we’ve had that conversation for three years. is I mean there were moments there during the course when we talked about Jimmy in those exact same terms almost using the exact same language and so the the frustration is real. I mean there’s limitations to what Jimmy is capable of at this stage in his career and uh I guess you kind of just have to take the risk and that was something that they said as well. It’s like you know what you kind of have to assume that you’re going to have some stinkers over the course of the regular season knowing that there’s the potential there for what he’s capable of doing in the postseason and maybe that’s why gold handcuff Golden handcuffs. Uh, I want to revisit some trade grades. This was fun. Oh, so CBS Sports, which feels like CBS Sports always gives the Heat a bad grade on every trade. Uh, they gave the Warriors a B+ for the Jimmy Butler deal. They gave the Heat a D+. Nice. They said, quote, “Those rumors about the Heat turning Butler into Durant that emerged Wednesday afternoon sure feel a month old now, right? The return here ultimately pro proved lackluster, even by the pre- Durant rumor expectations. Think about what the Heat likely wanted to accomplish in a Butler deal. So, they were really hard on the Heat. Yahoo Yahoo Sports gave the Warriors an A, gave the Heat a B+. Um, ESPN gave the Warriors a B minus at the time and gave the Heat a B+. So, Kevin Pelton over at ESPN actually had the Heat winning that trade. He said, quote, “Once the Heat were in position where they had to trade Butler, this was a pretty good return. Miami accomplished its goal of avoiding taking on bad salary while also getting what could be a quality first round pick to replenish its coffers and cutting its luxury tax bill significantly. So they cut the luxury tax bill that opens the door for Norm Pal. And then with that pick, they end up getting Yakonis. After a, this is him uh continuing after a down 2023 24. Wiggins has been back to a quality three indie star that he was for the Warriors during their 2022 championship run. Because Butler has played just 25 games this season. I rate Wiggins as having produced almost an identical three wins over replacement player by my warp metric. I thought that was interesting. He was really the only guy that was basically like Wiggins for Butler is almost a wash. And I think everybody sort of understands what Butler is in the playoffs potentially like that his ceiling is just higher than the Wiggins ceiling. But considering Wiggins’s age and his availability, I I I think there’s definitely an argument to be made about like who would you rather have in the regular season between Wiggins and Butler. Absolutely. I I mean, Wiggins has been a nice addition to this team. And again, the lows are pretty glaring, the highs not as high, and yet given what this team is looking to accomplish this season, I think Wiggins has been a much better fit. So, it it’s it it’s I don’t know that you’re ever going to be able to feel quite comfortable in terms of what you got back for Jimmy Butler because Jimmy did provide some great emotional moments for this franchise and their fans over the previous five and a half seasons. But given what this team is looking to accomplish moving forward, it was not a bad hall and I think the trade just needed to take place and and what you got for Jimmy worked out and has worked out. So, in that sense, that’s why I think fans will be easier for it’ll be easier for them to move on because they know where they’re at now, and it’s not going to be the same kind of lingering resentment that they felt last year when he left them in such a lurch and the team was so bad. Are you higher on the trade now for the Heat than you were when it first happened? I am. No. No. Yes and no. Because honestly, I I knew Dave would be a good fit and I thought he was going to be a fan favorite. That happened almost immediately. We were both optimistic about what Wigs would be able to provide. We’re seeing that version of him now. He was just really in a bad place last season. And he might have he might be having the best year of his career right now. I saw that statistically he’s playing better now than he did when he was an all-star in Golden State. It’s just not going to get the same kind of hype because that was the Golden State Warriors and they went on to win a championship that year. So, it’s a little difficult, a little different. And so, I I I think he’s he’s been great. And you know what? He really does seem and hey, he really seems to have his joy back. Look at that. Look at that. You can come here and find joy. Who knew? Who who knew? Um I think the Heat won this trade. I think the Heat won the trade. I really do. I They don’t have to pay a 36-year-old, 37year-old aging player 50 plus million dollars a year for two more years, right? Cuz the Warriors gave them the extension that the Heat wouldn’t give them. They’re not saddled with that. They’re super flexible, flexible enough to go get Norm Pal and flexible enough to go do other things. They’re going they’re under the luxury tax right now. Golden State is not. It’s with all of these things considered and you have to consider all these things because that’s the NBA that we live in right now. You have to do all the tax apron and CBA stuff. I think the Heat won this trade. Yeah, I think they did. And by the way, I think it was a good trade for the Warriors, too. I think this was the that was the kind of trade that they needed to make. Right. But if you pull most executives and you say, “What spot, what player would you ra what package would you rather have? What spot would you rather be?” I don’t know. I I think a lot of front office say, “I kind of like the Heat’s projection.” Understanding that they still want a Steph or a Jimmy on the roster, but like what are the Warriors really going to accomplish this year? You know what I mean? So, um, we’ll see. Now, we’ve broken down the trade. What happens in the game? Up next, an X’s and O’s key matchup breakdown. What Heat fans should expect when the game tips off. That’s coming up next here on Locked on Heat. Today’s episode is brought to you by Ripling. If you’re a business owner, here’s the truth. SAS provides promise to make work easier, but now the average company is buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your teams and simply don’t work together. That’s not SAS. That’s SAD. Software as a disservice. And that’s why you need Ripley. Ripling is a unified platform for global HR, payroll, IT, and finance all in one place. They’ve helped millions of businesses replace a mess of disconnected tools with one system designed to give leaders clarity, speed, and control. What you’ll love about Ripley is how it removes the bottlenecks and busy work that slows teams down. You want to try to steamline things a little bit and make things more efficient. Well, guess what? That’s what Ripley does. Everything from onboarding to payroll to IT access runs automatically and perfectly in sync. It’s simple to use and it gives companies one source of truth for the people, data, and everything they touch. And right now, you can get six months free when you go to rippling.com/lockdownba. That’s rippling.com/lockdownba for six months free. We’ll be right back. All right, let’s talk about this game. Warriors are going to be playing on the second night of a back-to-back. They’re playing in Orlando on Tuesday night. Jimmy Butler, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, these guys are expected to play against the Magic. Uh when most people are hearing this, they’ll probably know what actually happened, but no, none of those players are on the injury report. So, there’s that. Um I do think that there’s a fair question here before we even dive into the matchups and the X’s and O’s here, David. How do the Warriors handle this on the road? Second night of a backto-back aging roster. We’ve seen them be careful with Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry and Draymond uh over this last, you know, this season and and post trade deadline after last year. Does Jimmy Butler even play in this, right? Like, does he just sort of sap the energy out of this whole thing by sitting out the second night of a backto-back? I I would expect Jimmy Butler to play that he’s not really the the kind of player that doesn’t do I don’t know. He also never played in Minnesota after he got I who knows what he does here. Yeah. I don’t know. necessarily shying away from the Heat. It’s just you’re on the brood and you’re going from Golden State to take this is the same thing as if he doesn’t play shying away from the heat. I don’t think so. I mean, the second night of a back to back. It It’s got bigger fish to fry. Yeah, but it’s also Jimmy and you’ve got a long t long-term sustainability that you’re looking for. I wouldn’t be surprised if Steph misses the game to be honest with you. And I know that’s kind of a bummer because fans even at this point in time in his career, they still come out and and they flock to see Steph Curry. So, it’s it it will be interesting to see how Kerr kind of manages those minutes. What if there’s like an overtime game in Orlando or something like that? It you know, it could be a lot of different factors that could play into it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some players sit on Tuesday night and then some other players sit on Wednesday night to kind of keep everything kind of healthy. Uh Kaminga is already out, right, due to tendonitis. I think he’s listed as out. So, uh I’m not sure if uh if he’ll be available for any of those two games. And that’s that’s another blow to their depth there. So, yeah. Do you want to have to go to Jimmy Butler at this point on a backto-back in Orlando or Miami just to prove a point and just to be like, “Oh, no. He’s ready for that challenge.” And I don’t think it matters to Jimmy. I think he’ll purposely say it don’t matter just so that he doesn’t have to. I mean, it’s what he said last year. He’s losing face. Yeah. But it’ll also seem like he won’t be he won’t be losing face by saying, “You know what? We played last night in Orlando. I don’t want to play now today. I’m sitting it out so it’s not that big a deal because I don’t really care anyway. He could say whatever he wants to say. The perception will be that he ducked to the Heat.” That’s the perception. They saw something in Minnesota, like you said. I mean, Timber Wolves fans like he never cared to Jimmy Baller’s credit, never cared about that storyline. And he could just it he he does not care about that stuff. And I want to be very clear, it will not stop people from saying it. Anyway, let’s assume then we got full health, fun, exciting game. This is what everybody wants to see. Um, Bamabio, his status also, he missed the last six games with a big toe sprain. He said he’s optimistic that he could play Wednesday. He’s been upgraded from out to questionable, which seems to be, if we’re going to be optimistic here, a step in him potentially playing here. Before we get into any of this, I think the Warriors are too good. Even on the second night of a backto-back, I think you need Bam to win this game. I think you need it. Uh Jimmy Butler, Steph Curry, that group is just too there’s too much firepower in that group offensively. You need your best defender out there. It’ll be It’s a real uphill battle if you don’t have BAM out there. I’ll say that. Yeah, that’s fair. It’s an interesting lot because I think both teams are pretty deep, even with that Kaminga in the picture. Um there’s a there’s some some nice depth he sees in in Golden State’s roster and yeah, Bam would certainly help a lot. Like he he’s not gonna be matching up against Draymond. I guess he pro well I don’t know. So the Warriors have been starting small. Who knows what they’ll do. They could play big in Orlando and be like we kind of like this. Like Steve Kerr is always willing to switch up his his starting lineup, but they’ve lately been starting small with Steph, Will Rashard, who’s their second round pick out of Florida who looks really good. Moses Moody, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green. And if that’s the case, then yeah, Bam would be on Draymond. Almost seems like a waste, right? Nobody know what he can do. I mean, he’s not going to really defend Draymond. Yeah. Get the the 20 point game from Draymond tonight against the Heat. I mean, that would be interesting. It’d be really annoying if if this was like the one game a month where where Draymond hits like the three out of the six three-pointers. He has one of those games like every three or four weeks. But, um, yeah, it that’s a good point, right? They also have Al Horford who’s in and out and we’ll know whether or not he’s going to play against Miami based on whether he plays against Orlando. He does not play second night. He does not play both sets of a backto-back. So, we’ll see what happens there. But, you know, they’ve got um Quinton Post out there. They could try to match up. So, we’ll see what happens. Um here’s where I think the the the Heat have an advantage. The Warriors have been very very very turnoverrone this season and that can help spark Miami’s transition uptempo pace offense. They’ve also been 30th the Warriors 30th in points in the paint scoring wise. Uh the Heat have given up a lot of points in the paint with Bam out. So even if BAM doesn’t play in this game for whatever reason, it’s not like you’re playing the Knicks or, you know, a team like the Milwaukee Bucks for instance, one of these the Denver Nuggets, these teams that just dominate in the paint. The Warriors are not a paintc scoring team. And so maybe Bam’s absence, if that is the case here, is a little bit mitigated because of that because they’re essentially just a jump shooting team. So yeah, um maybe you don’t necessarily need BAM. I I think you do. But yeah, th this these areas where the Heat have been taken advantage of with BAM out of the mix these last few games, the Warriors aren’t necessarily jumping on those things. That’s a great point. Um you would think that Golden State’s reli reliance on the jump shot would make them a better matchup for Miami as opposed to these teams that can kind of pound the paint and really get a bunch of points that way because that’s been Miami’s Achily Heel because of the lack of rebounding, especially on the defensive end. and just a lot of different things that have been problematic, especially as you said with BAM and a bio out. Uh, however, Golden State still has Steph Curry. It’s like still the ultimate X factor. Like, yeah, you know what? It’s okay to give up the jump shots until he’s going for 40, which always remains a possibility even at this stage in his career. So, yep. They’re number one in the league in three-pointers made per game. That’s that’s what they do at an elite level, right? and they can just come out, shoot the doors off the Heat, who are, I think, a little streaky shooting wise. I think that’s fair. Um, it feels like unless Simone Fonteio gets going and Davon Mitchell has a good night shooting wise, that maybe that’s not necessarily there. Norm Powell is a good shooter, but outside of that, who’s really the elite shooter on this team? Um, so there’s that. In terms of who defends Jimmy Butler, I think that’s going to be primarily Andrew Wiggins. That’s what we saw last time. I think you’ll probably see Yep. You’ll primarily see DaVon Mitchell chasing Steph Curry. Um I think you’ll see Pel Larson getting a minutes maybe on both of those guys at times. Um but I think it’ll primarily be Wigs on Butler and DaVon on Steph. Yeah. Um I’m really curious about that Mitchell matchup. I wonder how he’s fared against him in the past. I don’t I don’t I don’t I looked it up. There’s just there’s not a huge sample of it, right? a ton of playing time. Even just uh uh off the top of my head, I’m trying to think, I couldn’t remember any past matchup that really stood out all that much because he was a bench player for the most part, DaVon. Uh now he gets the opportunity to kind of chase Steph around. But think about this, his aggression going over screens. Steph, a master at being able to work those those perfect corners, just the the millimeters in between a screen where it looks like he’s going to draw contact and pull up for the three at the same time. So, you got to be very careful. I would not be surprised if you get at least one four-point play out of uh Steph tomorrow night. Great call. And uh guys like Kell Wear and all these guys on the back side of the defense, they’ve got to be dialed in, right? Because of those slip screens and all those things that Steph Curry does and creates with his gravity. So, all that stuff we know will be in the scouting report. We’ll see it play out on Wednesday night. That’s going to do it for us today. Catch the postgame show on Wednesday night where we break down everything that does happen. For now, this has been Locked on Heat, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Miami Heat brace for Jimmy Butler’s emotional return as they host the Golden State Warriors—does the fallout from last summer’s blockbuster trade still linger?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil debate Butler’s impact, locker room dynamics, and how the franchise is reshaping itself after moving on from its former superstar. Is the Warriors’ latest roster built for a playoff charge, or do the Heat’s new additions tilt the balance?

Key talking points include Bam Adebayo’s injury status, Tyler Herro’s expanded role, and the on-court implications of Miami’s trade for Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, Casparis Yakotonas, and Norman Powell. The hosts break down fan reactions, anticipated matchups between Steph Curry and the Heat’s revamped rotation, and whether Miami truly “won” the Butler trade. Will this reunion spark fireworks on the court—or has South Florida already moved on?

0:00 – Setting Stage for Butler vs Heat
10:30 – Butler Trade Retrospective
24:57 – Game Matchup Breakdown

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