The Jimmy Butler era in Miami was a complicated one.
Butler will always be remembered fondly in a Miami Heat jersey, despite how his time ended in South Beach.
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And on Tuesday night, Butler returned to Miami as a member of the Golden State Warriors for the first time since Pat Riley begrudgingly traded the All-Star away in February.
And Butler didn’t want to hear anything from the team’s president.
“I have nothing to say to Pat, and Pat better have nothing to say to me,” Butler told TNT’s Taylor Rooks before the game.
The Heat paid tribute to Butler’s 5½ seasons with the organization with a pregame video to honor the player who led them to two NBA Finals appearances and three Eastern Conference Finals appearances.
The crowd cheered for Butler as he was introduced in the Warriors starting line-up, and he acknowledged and waved to the Miami fans.
That’s about as far as it went.
Butler spoke before the game about how he was and is portrayed and that he doesn’t care to give all the noise too much attention, if any.
“I’m always painted as the bad guy,” Butler said.
“Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve always been a problem. We’ll take it. I don’t got nothing to say. I’m not mad at being a bad guy.
“It’s all the way everything’s portrayed. Some people talk to the media, some people don’t. I’ve never been one to tell my side of the story to almost anybody.
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“Let everybody think that this is what happened. We’ll ride with it.”
Butler and the Heat’s relationship fizzed at the end as the 6x-time All-Star wanted an extension and had increasingly grown frustrated with his role on the team.
Riley and the Heat never offered Butler the extension he was looking for, citing the reason was he missing about 25% of their games during his time in Miami.
Both sides had fair complaints.
This eventually led to awkward suspensions and absences before finally, Butler was traded to Golden State.
The Warriors immediately gave him the extension he was looking for, signing a two-year, $111 million deal.
Since the trade in February, Butler and the Warriors are a scorching 16-3 with the former Heat star in the lineup.
While Butler acknowledged the sour-ending that took place in Miami, he wasn’t willing to accept full responsibility for what transpired and hoped the fan aren’t either.
“I wonder if they look at the Heat the same way,” Butler said.
“It ain’t like I was the one who was doing everything. It’s got to be 50-50, maybe 51-49 — 49 towards them, 51 towards me.
“But there’s no way that I was the cause of all of this.”
The Heat meanwhile have completely nose-dived this season and are currently 11 games under .500 at 30-41.
Good enough for tenth in the Eastern Conference.
While the Warriors are soaring, the Heat are circling the drain.
And for that, Miami fans can’t be too welcoming and forgiving of their former star even though he helped deliver time and time again, in the clutch, shattering expectations and ceilings for a team who wasn’t always the most talented.
Even with the tribute video and applause, now was not the time.
At least not yet.
