Heading into the first full season without Jimmy Butler since 2018, plenty of time has passed to properly reflect on the former Heat Legend’s tenure with the franchise.
(Photo via Getty Images)
When fans think back on Miami Heat Mount Rushmore, there’s no debate that Dwyane Wade leads that discussion. He is undoubtedly the greatest player in franchise history, and had a statue put up outside the arena this past season to justify that notion even more.
But who is behind him?
LeBron James helped lead the Heat to the mountain top twice as the best player on two of the franchise’s three championship teams. After him, though, it becomes more of a debate.
Of course there’s other accomplished champions and/or stars that came along the way— Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Bosh, Tim Hardaway, even Udonis Haslem’s loyalty— just to name a few. But one star made his mark in his own authentic way.
Despite Jimmy Butler’s messy trade departure out of South Beach, enough time has passed to move on from the in-the-moment type of feelings regarding his status amongst Heat legends. And there should be no question that Butler is a top-three player in franchise history.
No matter how ugly the ending was, Butler elevated Miami to heights that they haven’t seen since Wade and James shared the court together over a decade ago. His resume does the speaking for itself.
Jimmy Butler’s playoff rankings in Miami Heat history:
Most points in a playoff game (56)
2nd in playoff PPG
2nd in playoff SPG
2nd in playoff triple-doubles
3rd in playoff PTS
3rd in playoff APG
3rd in playoff AST
3rd in playoff STL
Led No. 8 & No. 5 seed to NBA Finals
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Jimmy Butler did the most, with the least, better than anybody in the entire league could have.
During the near six-year Butler era, he had support from the All-Star growth of Bam Adebayo. Goran Dragic played a key lead scorer role in that one 2020 run in the bubble. He also had a former Sixth Man of the Year in the talent of Tyler Herro, although he was sidelined with injuries in two of their other deeper playoff runs.
Other than that, the majority of the rest of the rosters were guys that played to a role. Their success of two Finals runs and an Eastern Conference finals run in a five-year span was mostly fueled by Butler’s confidence and playoff risings.
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In 2023 alone, Butler instilled that contagious confidence in a play-in eighth seed group all the way to an improbable NBA finals run.
The Heat took down juggernauts like the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks during that year as a major underdog. They became just the second eight seed in NBA history to reach the Finals. And Miami accomplished all of that with multiple undrafted players alongside Butler in the rotation.
He was a ceiling raiser. He showed up when it mattered the most.
There will always be the fans that downplay Butler’s Heat run because he “quit” on the team on his way out amidst new contract drama. But don’t let his exit steer away from the incredible stretch of Heat basketball he brought to the organization as the lead superstar.
At his best, Butler represented “Heat Culture” as great as anybody. His heroics on the biggest stage unfortunately may not have resulted in a ring, but his tenure is assuredly good enough to go down as the third greatest Heat player in franchise history.
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