Inside The Heat

Andrew Wiggins All-Star Selection Adds to Jimmy Butler Saga

Andrew Wiggins, who once teamed with Jimmy Butler in Minnesota, is now an All-Star

Shandel Richardson

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It was almost four years ago when the rift began between Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler and Golden State's Andrew Wiggins. 

Both were teammates with the Minnesota Timberwolves when Butler unleashed a profanity-laced tirade against Wiggins and some of the other players. It ultimately led to Butler being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Wiggins has recovered from the incident and on Thursday was named a starter for the NBA All-Game next month in Cleveland. Wiggins and Butler have left their pasts in the past. 

After being called a bad teammate in Chicago, Minnesota and Philadelphia, Butler has been a model citizen with the Heat. He led them to the 2020 Finals and helped the Heat to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference this season.

 

"I've been rooting for them. Jimmy, he was a great teammate," Wiggins said while the Heat were in the middle of their Finals run. "Hell of a competitor. what he's brought over there, bringing those guys to the Finals, it's a huge accomplishment. It just shows what he can do."

Last December Golden State forward and former Heat player Andre Iguodala said Butler has always been supportive of Wiggins. Butler once called Wiggins the "most God-gifted player" he's seen. 

"That was all I needed to hear to be honest, because Jimmy doesn't like anybody," Iguodala said. "So when Jimmy said he liked Wiggs, I kind of started looking at it different."

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here

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