As the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler drama continues, there is no doubt that it has been the biggest topic in sports to see what a possible finality can be. The basketball world has touched on the Butler situation including former players like Gilbert Arenas as now Carmelo Anthony gave his thoughts on what has been going on.
He was on his show “7PM In Brooklyn” where he spoke about what has been going on with Butler and questioned if there is another issue that is deeper than basketball.
“For somebody like Jimmy, who is super strong-willed, it’s got to be something that’s seriously happening to Jimmy, even mentally or internally he’s dealing with something,” Anthony said. “Or like he said, I don’t want to be here, I’m not happy here no more, like it’s not a happy place for me. A lot of people would take that and laugh at that, but you’ve got to really hear what he’s saying. I ain’t happy here, that means I’m going home and not happy, that means my family isn’t happy, my kids aren’t happy, people that work for me are not happy, my environment is just a negative environment.”
A huge event in this odyssey was when after the Heat lost to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 2, Butler would say after the game how he had lost his “joy” of playing basketball and responded “probably not” when asked if it could be regained in Miami. The Heat would then suspend Butler for seven games due to “conduct detrimental to the team” as it stemmed from Pat Riley and the franchise’s non-commitment to giving the star a contract extension.
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Anthony would speak about Butler’s history of falling out with teams and possibly believes it could impact his future with his next team if he were to be traded.
“You’re going to f—k yourself up for the next situation because now we can’t really trust you,” Anthony said. “We don’t know if you’re going to black out, we don’t know if you’re going to say you’re not happy here, we don’t know if you’re going to not play. Not saying that all the situations…is your fault, but when you start stringing s—t along it’s like Chicago, Minnesota, Philly, Miami, like everywhere you go? Not saying that’s what’s happening but I like to look at s—t a little bit deeper. There is something going on with JB [Butler] and I hope he’s all good.”
While people speculate about the Heat and Butler’s fractured relationship, he is in the midst of serving the suspension where the team is prepared for him to rejoin the team if unable to find a suitable deal. Anthony would double down saying he doesn’t recognize the actions and that Riley needs to “part ways.”
“This isn’t the Jimmy I know,” Anthony said. “Something is going on with Jimmy and people need to get in front of that. Pat the best thing to do is just part ways man because this is going to get ugly because Jimmy is not a guy that’s going to back down.”
If he’s still on the roster by then, Butler is set to come back on Jan. 17 when Miami hosts the Denver Nuggets.
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