In the eyes of many basketball fans, the Luka Doncic to Los Angeles Lakers trade has become the bar when it comes to bad trades in the NBA. But did we witness one even worse just days later?
The Jimmy Butler effect is a real thing. The individual stats might not show it, but the 35-year-old definitely effects a team's win column.
Just look at the Golden State Warriors before and after acquiring Butler. They look like Championship contenders again.
Now, it is never advisable to look too deeply into regular season results. On a back-to-back, the Warriors lost to a Denver Nuggets team that did not have Nikola Jovic but then won against the a full-strength Milwaukee Bucks when they themselves did not have Stephen Curry.
In the absence of Curry, Playoff Jimmy decided to make an early appearance. He put up 24 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds while the Bucks, who have players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Kyle Kuzma, were restricted to 93 points.
As for the Miami Heat, they have struggled since Butler's exit, even though he had not been playing much this season in the first place, having been suspended three times.
According to Marca, Theo Pinson said on the March 18 episode of To The Baha podcast: "That is a worse trade than Dallas and the Lakers, by far... Jimmy Butler was Heat culture."
The Heat are on an eight-game losing streak and have slipped down to 10th in the East, behind a rebuilding Chicago Bulls team that has parted with DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Alex Caruso since the summer.
And when Butler was in Miami, a lot of the times, their regular season standing did not matter because they knew Playoff Jimmy had the ability to will them into the NBA Finals. He did it twice in two years and narrowly missed out a third time.
Related: Miami Heat: Tyler Herro Makes Brutally Honest Jimmy Butler Claim
Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published March 19, 2025 at 6:09 AM.