Pat Riley has been going through it lately, as the struggling Miami Heat try to figure out what to do with disgruntled star Jimmy Butler. The fallout has the president of the Miami Heat admitting something pretty shocking.

During an extensive interview with Dan Le Batard, Riley was asked to respond to critics who claim he might be washed, and that losing to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs was proof of that. His response was eye-opening.

“Whoever’s saying that, I haven’t read it because I’m not on any social media site and I don’t care, ” Riley said. “I’ve had my a** kicked by the Celtics enough when I was coaching and they’re a great team.”

He continued, “I don’t worry about what critics say because maybe I am? Maybe I should go somewhere and just put my feet up, but I would then become obsessive about doing something else.”

That’s a pretty bold admission

During that interview, Riley gave his thoughts on the NBA’s player empowerment era and how he would have handled certain things differently with the current crop of players.

Riley is 79 years old and has been on the coaching/executive side of the NBA since he joined the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant coach in 1979. That’s more than 45 consecutive years of being involved in the league on the management side.

The Butler situation has been bad for the Heat. Riley went on the record claiming he wouldn’t trade the 35-year-old All-Star, which Butler followed up by saying he didn’t think he could be happy in Miami.

Entering Thursday night’s action, the Heat are 18-17 and sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.