What The National Media Is Saying About How Miami Heat Should Handle Jimmy Butler Situation

Shandel Richardson | May 10, 2024

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Heat are in for a long offseason because of the speculation surrounding Jimmy Butler: will he stay or go?

It's created quite the conversation-starter this week and will only intensify through the summer. Here's a look at what some media pundits are saying about the situation:

ESPN's Stephen A Smith on if the Heat should move on from Butler, First Take: “Well yes, I think so because he’s 35. Obviously you need somebody younger who’s going to be more durable and not miss so many games. That's No. 1."

NBA writer Rohan Nadkarni, Dan LeBatard Show: "I think it would be crazy for them not to extend Jimmy Butler," Nadkarni said. "I think people have already very quickly forgotten where this franchise was in the three or four years before he got there, that in-between period between LeBron versus what happened before Jimmy Butler got there ... "No `superstar' in the NBA has done more with less than Jimmy Butler has in the last five years. There's always the conversation about, `Do we extend him?' I look at the rest of the East that has upgraded significantly the last few years and it feels like the Heat have not done that for Jimmy despite how far he's taken them."

Yahoo! Sports writer Jake Fischer: "Jimmy turns 35 in September. Who's to say what is going to come if you give him a four-year, approaching $200 million contract when the injuries have already started to pile up. That is the biggest question, no matter what, the Heat have to address."

The Athletic's Shams Charania: "[Jimmy Butler] has always made it clear he wants to be in Miami long term, it's going to be about will they be able to pay him what he wants."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Inside The Heat. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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