The Jimmy Butler-Heat saga has seemingly reached its course. Butler requested a trade following his infamous post-game press conference in which he revealed that he can’t find his joy for basketball in Miami. Shortly after his comments, the Heat announced that they had suspended Butler for seven games.
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As a result of the ban, Butler will lose $336,543 per game and nearly $2,355,798. The NBA Players Association will file a grievance for Butler to recoup the money he will lose from the suspension. However, celebrity lawyer Alex Spiro believes the Heat will use Butler’s words to avoid paying him the money he is due.
Spiro made a guest appearance on ESPN’s The Hoop Collective Podcast with Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps, and Tim McMahon. He provided legal input using his experience from similar cases. He said,
“They’re going to use his words against him. He said something to the effect of I can’t play hard here, I don’t love it here, some words to that effect. They’re going to point to it with him saying that and saying it was attitude that you basically were deciding to fold it in and that’s conduct detrimental to the team. I’m not taking a side, I’m just telling you that happens in these cases is you use the person’s words against them.”
There is no way to prove from Butler’s statistics that he wasn’t playing his hardest. Regardless, it’s apparent that in the last two games, Butler didn’t put any effort into the eye test. In the Heat’s matchup against the Pelicans, he only attempted five shots and didn’t play in the fourth quarter. The following game against the Pacers he only attempted six shots and also didn’t play in the fourth. Spiro believes the Heat can use Butler’s comments to prove that he wasn’t playing his hardest on the court.
In addition, Spiro doesn’t think there will be much digging around in this case. He believes the results will find that Butler decided to give up because he wasn’t happy playing on the Heat anymore.
Jimmy Butler likely will lose his appeal
All of the signs point to Butler most likely losing his appeal. If his choice of words were slightly different then maybe he could experience a different result. However, the damage has already been done. Aside from the suspension and the fine, Spiro believes that there is no mending bridges for Butler and Pat Riley’s relationship.
“It seems like the genie can’t get back in the bottle and you know you got to remember Pat, [Erik Spoelstra], and Jimmy, they’re all from different generations, different places,” Spiro said. “They’re just too far apart. At this point, it’s just unfortunate.”
It would involve a miracle for Butler and Riley to patch their relationship. In the past, Riley has cut ties with Shaquille O’Neal and even franchise legend Dwyane Wade due to contract disputes. Butler will be no exception and most likely will have a new home by the February 6, trade deadline.
