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January 4, 2025 9 mins

Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Jimmy Butler, star of the Miami Heat, is making some noise.
There have been rumors over the last several weeks that
indeed he wanted out, even though his agent, Bernie Lee,
had denied it at that time. Nevertheless, it's been made
official because we heard from Jimmy Butler himself, and boy
did we all hear from him when he spoke up.

(00:26):
It was not that pleasant. If you are pat Riley
in the Miami Heat, this does not seem to be
a star that wants to stay near South Beach. Nevertheless,
you don't usually hear such things from a player playing
for pat Raleigh, but you heard it last night.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Listen for yourself.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
I want to see me get my joy back from
playing basketball. And wherever that may be, we'll find out
here pretty soon. But I want to get my joy back.
I'm happy here, you know, off the court, but I
want to be back to somewhere dominant. I want to
hoop and I want to help this team win.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Right now, I'm not doing that. Can you get your
joy back here on the court?

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Probably not, Damn, ladies and gentlemen, I've been covering the
NBA for close to thirty years.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
In that time.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
I don't recall hearing anybody that has played for pat
Riley when pat Rally was a coach, since pat Rally
has been president of the basketball operations that have spoken
that defiantly against an organization run by pat Rally.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
It has never happened. Well, it's happened now.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Jimmy Butler wants out, and I'm here to tell you
I can't blame him. When you look at the Miami Heat,
presently a top six seed in the Eastern Conference, seventeen
to fifteen, two games over five hundred at the time
that we are recording this show. Nevertheless, nobody has them
in the championship equation.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
And when you.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Listen to Jimmy Butler, what essentially is it that he
is saying. I'll tell you what he's saying. He're saying,
we're not very good and we're not going to compete
for a championship.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
We're likely not better than the Milwaukee Bucks.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
We're probably not better than the New York Knicks, we
definitely ain't better than the Cleveland Cavaliers, and we damn
sure ain't better than a reigning defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
In other words, we.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Have no chance at this particular juncture with the team
that we presently have in this assembled. If you are
the Miami Heat, you can be a bit salty for
how Jimmy Butler has chosen to handle this, and we
would all understand that, but respectfully, how wrong is he?
We hadn't heard anything from Jimmy Butler up to this point.

(02:38):
And when we look at pat Riley, a person that
I've known for years, that I revere and I have
a lot of love and respectful even have him in
my book Straight Shooter, in terms of the contribution he's
made to my life and my career, there is no
getting around the fact that pat Riley, the Great pat Riley,
the Winner Within, that was the name of the book
that he authored, The Winner Within, who's been a champion

(02:58):
on every level as a player, as a coach, as
a president of basketball operations. This man knows how to win,
and he knows how to build a culture, and he
knows how to have structure in order to an organization.
He is a leader, and there's no question about that.
But when it comes to Jimmy Butler or the Jimmy
Butler ever in Miami, one could easily ask what have

(03:21):
you done for him lately? Bam out of Bayer can play.
But this is not Joe ellen Bider, Nicola Yokich to
somebody of that caliber that we're talking about. Okay, let's
just get that out of the way right now, that's
not what's.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Going on here.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
And when you look at Jimmy Butler, a player option
for next season, a fifty two point four million, who's
being paid over forty nine million.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Now just look at some of the stats. Look at
this here. Think about it.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Minutes per game thirty point eight, fewest since.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Twenty twelve, twenty.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
And thirteen, scoring average seventeen point six Lewis twenty thirteen,
twenty fourteen. Now you will look at those numbers to say, well,
Jimmy Butler, that's on you, right uh uh Hold on.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Brother shooting fifty five percent for the field, fifty.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Eight percent on two pointers, which means that when you
give him the.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Ball for him to shoot the basketball.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
It goes in more times than it doesn't. Why isn't
he getting it more? Why am I looking at a
usage rate of twenty point three percent of the Miami Heat,
which is the lowest on the team.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Some dude named.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Heyward high Smith has a higher usage.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Rate than Jimmy Butler. How how it makes no sense.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Tyler hero can ball, but he shoots a difficult shot
at Tomso shots elections, leaves a lot to be desired.
Bam out of Barer can ball, but he's not that
kind of a stud offensively. Jimmy Butler's the one that
got you the two NBA finals in a four to
five year period, and what has he been clamoring for
over the last three summers?

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Are so help Now you're the Miami Heat.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
You had an opportunity to get Kevin didn't work out.
You had an opportunity to get Damian Lillard didn't work out.
Not only did you not get Damien Litlan, not only
did you not get Kevin Durant. But it's in the
aftermath of losing Lebron James because Lebron James felt.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
That it was too tight of a ship that Pat
Raley was running.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
I don't know how true that is, because we all
know that, like the Lebron James had aspirations to go
back to Cleveland and make amends for departing from them
before delivering a championship to the City who was enduring
a fifty two year curse before he ended it in
twenty sixteen. But still, in all it leaves the question
what help has Jimmy Butler gotten? The answer is minimum,

(05:40):
and because of that is why he's probably said enough,
and why he spoke out is because after acknowledging that
he wanted out, pat Raley came out last week and
said we ain't trading them. So he's making it clear
I don't want to be here, and if he doesn't
want to be.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
There, why keep him there?

Speaker 1 (06:01):
To me, it's very very simple, ladies and gentlemen. I
don't think there's anything to think about here. When I
think about Jimmy Butler, his four options that he would
prefer Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets,
number one, number two.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
He's probably worried that par Rally.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Gonna send them some place that he don't want to
go to, to a MORI enfranchise more than basketball purgatory.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
That has a shot in hell of winning anything.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Because when you speak out, Pata Rally's not gonna do
you any favors now. But if I'm Jimmy Butler, or
shall I say, if I'm one of those teams interested
in Jimmy Butler, Listen, there's a case that could be made.
Jimmy Butler with Luca and Kyrie. Yeah, I don't know
if you need that, but.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's not a losing proposition.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Jimmy Butler with the Houston Rockets, a young team, Yeah,
he can help their veteran leadership, but they already got
Dylan Brooks and Fred Van Vliet. But Jimmy Butler doesn't hurt.
Let's call it what it is. The Golden State Warriors.
Steph Curry, you need another Klay Thompson. You don't need
a Jimmy Butler. In my estimation, even though Jimmy Butler

(07:15):
would Traymond Green in the same locker room, that's some
fire for.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
You, bro.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
That could go either way, but I think it would
be a positive more so than the negative personally, because
I think they're both winners. The ideal landing spot for
Jimmy Butler is the Phoenix Sons.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
I don't mean to be disrespectful.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
I'm just telling you what I know based on reporting
on their league for all of these years. The Phoenix
Son's an ultra talented team with a lot of offensive firepower.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
Nevertheless, they are.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Considered as a team as soft as cotton nelt tissue.
Nobody is concerned about their toughness, and toughness is what
gets it done for you in the playoffs. If you
are the Phoenix Sons, you should get on your knees
if you have to, and beg Bradley Beial to wave
that no trade claws and take his ass to Miami.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
So no state in come taxes there.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
The weather is beautiful, along with various other things that
we won't mention here.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
And you should look forward to.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Go on the South Beach, No state in come taxes,
warm weather, got hurricanes in the summer time and stuff
like that. But damn, you ain't gonna be there. You're
gonna be in one island, one island or another.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
You know I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Wonderful wife, wonderful family, Bradley Bill's good people. Go to Miami.
Dog go to Miami. Let Jimmy Butler go out to Phoenix, Arizona.
Because Jimmy Butler in that locker room with Kevin Durant
and Devin Booker as his teammate, with Mike Budenholzer as
a coach, with skilled but soft ass Nurkic as your
big man. Let me tell you something that culture would

(08:51):
change quick fasten than the Ari. That's where I'm at
with Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler should be a Phoenix sun.
It's brand. The rest of Phoenix's hierarchy.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Do what you.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
Can to get your hands on Jimmy Butler, and then
you won't be in the middle of things in the
Western Conference.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
You'll be at the top of the heap. You feel
what I'm saying.
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Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A. Smith

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