Heat can afford to be patient in resolving the Jimmy Butler trade saga

SAN FRANCISCO — If the pregame tunes outside the visitor’s locker room at Chase Center on Tuesday night were any indication, then the Miami Heat’s spirit remains intact amid the (latest) Jimmy Butler drama that has fast become the talk of the NBA.

In true Pat Riley form, the yacht rock song “What a Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers played loudly from a portable speaker more than two hours before tipoff against the Golden State Warriors. And while Riley himself wasn’t in town to enjoy the genre he is widely known to love, it was quite fitting that the man tasked with handling all these trade calls, longtime general manager Andy Elisburg, sauntered ever so slowly onto the Heat scene with walk-up music that was so on message.

After all, only a fool would believe that Riley and company will be rushed into making a rash decision here. After spending two days with the Heat on the Northern California portion of their most recent road trip, this much was made quite clear: The Heat are not about to be hurried or bullied into a bad deal. Even with the Heat’s desire to make a playoff push (they’re 18-17 and in seventh place in the East), Miami has all sorts of incentives to take its time — even if that means embracing all of the uncomfortableness that would come with a Butler return.

While trades can always materialize quickly in the Association, team sources say Miami is prepared to take its time with a Butler trade to maximize its return. This was the messaging shared internally after Butler was suspended seven games by the team on Friday for “conduct detrimental to the team,” and before the Heat embarked on a six-game, 10-day road trip that continues with a game at Utah on Thursday night.

In the wake of Butler’s trade request and subsequent suspension, team officials told Heat players that the prospect of the 35-year-old, six-time All-Star returning to the court with them after the suspension was the most likely next step. With Butler’s actions on and off the court seen by Heat officials as increasingly problematic, team sources say they opted to sit him for the entirety of this trip so that the issues could be addressed in earnest when the team returns home rather than on the road.

Coincidentally, the first game that Butler would be eligible to return is against the Heat’s 2023 Finals opponent, the Denver Nuggets, on Jan. 17. As a related aside, that matchup should serve as a not-so-subtle reminder to possible suitors that Butler was at his very best not too long ago.

“I still think I’m in my prime, if I’m being brutally honest,” he told The Washington Post last month.

And you know what? He might be right.

Yet, as was the case five years ago with the Minnesota mess, when he went full WWE on the Timberwolves before finally forcing his way to Philadelphia, his transcendent talent and impact are often lost in the conversation when the self-induced chaos is in full swing. The disruption factor, in turn, requires a deeper level of deliberation from interested teams that can’t afford to welcome a star player circus to town. Especially when it comes to all those teams that either don’t want to give Butler a massive new deal this summer, or that have already been informed that he wouldn’t want to return after this season. Translation: This might take a while to get resolved.

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On Tuesday night, after Miami beat the Warriors so badly (114-98) that Golden State might want to rethink its choice not to pursue Butler, one prominent Heat player wondered aloud if this sensitive situation might continue past the Feb. 6 trade deadline — into the summer and perhaps even beyond. Butler has a player option worth $52.4 million for next season, though he has been widely expected to decline it and become a free agent.

In recent days, Butler’s desire to make his way to the Phoenix Suns has been crystallized all around the league. But with the Heat known to be against adding Suns guard Bradley Beal and his massive contract, and Butler clearly of the belief that a max deal might be waiting for him in the desert, the key question now is whether Phoenix can find a third team that is so appealing to Beal that he’ll waive his no-trade clause and bring this latest star player saga to an end.

Considering the oft-injured 31-year-old is still owed a combined $110 million in the next two seasons (including a player option in 2026-27), that’s about as tall of an organizational task as you’ll ever find. And how’s this for a fascinating subplot to the Suns situation: While we all know that owner Mat Ishbia is firmly in charge and in front in this pursuit, his first-in-command, chief executive officer Josh Bartelstein, is the son of Beal’s longtime agent, Mark Bartelstein. Oh, to be a fly on the wall of those family conversations this week.

It’s not just a matter of finding a team with legitimate Beal interest, either. It’s finding a team with legitimate Beal interest that is willing to do that deal now, rather than taking these next four weeks to sort through other trade targets who most would consider superior: Zach LaVine, Brandon Ingram, et al. The Heat, meanwhile, could stand to benefit by letting the non-Suns market evolve while floundering teams — like, say, the Warriors — reevaluate whether they want to make a legitimate play on Butler.

As Golden State’s top decision-makers reminded us on Tuesday night, when a hallway conversation between owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. after the Miami beatdown was highlighted by local media, losing tends to spark negative emotions. Often, that frustration inspires a recalculation and change in strategy. As our own Marcus Thompson put it in his Warriors column the following morning, “This team needs a trade in the worst way.”

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That’s not to say Golden State will go after Butler, but the evening did represent Miami’s best-case scenario for what might come next. Teams that were saying no to the Butler possibility in recent weeks, or that have been offering pennies on the dollar for him to this point, might start taking a harder look at it when their record dips and the pressure rises. If they squint hard enough, they can see a world where he becomes their version of Kawhi Leonard in 2018 (from San Antonio to Toronto via trade, followed by a Raptors title run and his free-agency exit for the Clippers in the following summer).

Until then, it seems, the Heat will wait patiently while bracing for Butler’s next move. Only a fool would believe otherwise.

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(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

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