As the Miami Heat’s season has ended by the hands of the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the topic of conversation now has been about star Jimmy Butler, who declined to speak Friday during exit interviews (which was optional). While the conversation has been about a possible contract extension this off-season, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke about being excited to work with him again next season.
Butler had a frustrating ending to this past season as he suffered an MCL sprain in the first play-in tournament game against the Philadelphia 76ers which knocked them out for the rest of the postseason. Spoelstra would say to the media Friday afternoon that he has an expectation that come the start of training camp, Butler will be “in the best shape of his career.”
“He’ll be extremely motivated. Jimmy views things like us also He didn’t want to have our season end in early May,” Spoelstra said. “My expectation is his place in his career and his age that will come into training camp in the best shape of his career. I think that’s the goal particularly when you get to that stage. And to help fix a lot of these things. You know, Jimmy has a way of doing that, he’s playing at his highest level, I think from the head coach to the star player going into whatever chapter of this is, one of the later chapters in his career, I don’t want to say the final chapter because the kind of condition that he’s in, he’ll play for a long time and I don’t want to put a ceiling on that.”
Spoelstra compares his relationship with Butler like Dwyane Wade
This past season, Butler averaged 20.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 49.9 percent from the field. The star will turn 35-years old in September as Spoelstra compared his time working with Heat legend Dwyane Wade around that age as their bond grew stronger as time went by.
“But this is like, the sweet spot, the beauty, when you actually get an opportunity to coach and work with somebody together for six years,” Spoelstra said. “It’s different than one year two year and it’s something that most coaches and players don’t get to experience and certainly not anymore but it was an amazing, beautiful thing when Dwayne and I got past a handful of years, our relationship, our perspective, everything was way different.”
“And way more in unison,” Spoelstra continued. “And when you’re working that kind of intuitive togetherness and not to say that we weren’t, it’s just my experiences when you get to those later years it just happens. It’s a symbiotic relationship, you’re driving and pushing in the same direction, intuitively, and I’m looking forward to that. It goes by fast. I remember my first meeting with him, and now we’ll be heading into our sixth year working together, I think that’s a beautiful thing that I don’t take for granted. I can’t wait for training camp.”
Butler’s contract situation
The past five years of Butler in a Heat uniform have been very successful resulting in two NBA Finals appearances and ranking high on countless franchise records. However, there has been some speculation on uncertainty within his contract situation as it is reported he will be looking for a new contract extension starting next season.
According to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald that Butler is “expected to seek a maximum two-year contract extension worth about $113 million from the Heat this offseason, according to a league source.” As Miami is heading into another off-season wanting to bolster their roster, Butler will be at the top of the list of situations to handle this summer.
