On July 2, the Miami Heat orchestrated a blockbuster trade with the Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Clippers. The player that went Miami’s way was all-star Jimmy Butler. In this impressive multi-team transaction, Hassan Whiteside moved from Miami to Portland, Josh Richardson from Miami to Philadelphia, Moe Harkless from Portland to the Clippers and Mathias Lessort from Philadelphia to the Clippers.
Butler was coming off a great season where he averaged 18.2 points per game with the 76ers in 2018-19 and 21.3 points per game with the Minnesota Timberwolves. With Philadelphia, Butler was a catalyst on a 76ers squad that ended up winning 51 games in the 2018-19 National Basketball Association regular season and came within a bucket of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.
Butler is a four-time all-star (three times with the Bulls and once with the Timberwolves), and is extremely versatile. He plays small forward and shooting guard at a very high level.
This season for the Heat, Butler is at small forward and is playing extremely well offensively and defensively. He is averaging 18.7 points per game (which leads Miami) and has 2.7 steals per game, which leads the entire NBA.
What Butler has also brought to the Heat is the valuable intangible of leadership. At 30 years of age, Butler is in his ninth NBA season, and his presence is making an impact.
The Heat are 10-3 to start the season, and Miami is one of only four teams in the entire NBA who are undefeated at home. Surprisingly, the other three teams are also in the East, as they are the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.
Miami won its 10th game of the season on Wednesday night. Butler had 21 points as Miami clobbered the Cleveland Cavaliers 124-100.
