The Miami Warmth finished the season high 46-36 and, unlike the previous year, did not have a valiant run from the play-in to the finals. In a memorable press conference after they lost their first-round draft to the eventual champion Boston Celtics in five games, Warmth president Pat Riley challenged franchise player Jimmy Butler to be more available and criticized Butler for talk trash about the Celtics. . (Butler forgot the design with a sprained medial collateral ligament.) In the offseason that followed, Miami didn’t ask Butler for a contract extension, didn’t gut the roster, and didn’t produce a significant, complete departure. On Thursday, in an interview with reporters including Anthony Chiang of the Miami Bring in, Riley said he wasn’t ready to hit the reset button on the summer, but described the 2024-25 season as “crucial” and said it could be ” narration.”
“I didn’t feel comfortable just saying, ‘OK, I’m going to quit this team this year because we’re an entry-level team,'” Riley said. “You get in, you get in and then you get out of there. Two years ago it was an anomaly and we ended up in the Finals. I’ll take the anomaly any day. But we have a very good team.”
Butler missed 22 games during the regular season before the MCL play-in upset. Tyler Herro neglected 40 video games. Terry Rozier, signed from the Charlotte Hornets in January, appeared in 30 games but missed the entire regular season, plus the play-in and playoffs, due to a neck injury. Rozier appeared in the top 10 games with Butler and Herro, and in the top two on February 7. If Butler, Bam Adebayo and Herro include the “core” of the team, Miami’s next best had its core on the court in 27 games for a total of 499 minutes.
“We don’t know about this team because you can’t have Tyler, you can’t have Bam and you can’t have Jimmy playing 30 games,” Riley mentioned. “So it would be like if I said when I coached the Magic [Johnson] and kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] and James Worthy, well, they only played 30 games. From that point of view of reality, we need everyone. “I hope and pray that we can be healthy this year to make it happen.”
Butler reportedly sought an extension at the beginning of the offseason, but based on Riley’s comments, it seemed like not going both ways would get him a guarantee. Butler has a $52.4 million player option for 2025-26; Until June 30, he can fade that decision and theoretically sign a two-year extension worth a projected $112.9 million, only if the Heat do business with him in this type of trade.
“I haven’t had much of a conversation with Jimmy about that,” Riley mentioned. “I’ve talked to his agent on occasion… I don’t have to sit down and have these meetings with [Butler] not anymore. “He is a very intelligent man.”
Riley mentioned that he “wouldn’t want” to lose Butler for anything in separate company. He also hinted that, at least for now, he’s okay with Butler effectively coming into the season with an expiring word.
“He will have the ability to opt in and we will have the ability to extend,” Riley said. “So I’m trying to get all that thinking out of our heads because it’s living in the present moment and playing.” Basketball So if there’s something that’s going to drag me down because of that, then we’re not going to perform at a certain level, but I think he’s accepted exactly where he is, I think he understands where we are. in.”
The night before Riley’s press conference, Butler, 35, had 24 digs (on 8-of-11 shooting), five rebounds, three assists and three steals in 21 minutes in a preseason win against the Atlanta Hawks. “What I saw last night and what I hope to see in the future this year is someone who has the opportunity to take us to that place where we can play for it,” Riley mentioned. “That’s all you want.” It is dense, however, what will happen if Miami rests in the murky heart of the East or, worse yet, takes a step back. Butler, Adebayo, Herro and Duncan Robinson enter their sixth year together; That greater or lesser resistance is unusual in today’s NBA.
“Six years, yeah, this is an eye-opening year for the team,” Riley mentioned. “It will have to be like this. They have been combined for 6 years. The core has been combined for 6 years, everyone has improved.”
“I think everything changes for the better with continuity and the fact that we believe in this squad. Does it mean that if we don’t win this year or if we don’t go deeper this year, there will be problems?” Massive changes? No, it doesn’t mean that. But they should know that this should be a crucial year for them. They have done it. [to the NBA Finals] twice, but they want to win.
Riley praised the Celtics and York Knicks for “going all out” with big trades and bigger payrolls. He mentioned that the Philadelphia 76ers are “a little bit like us” in that they “need to be healthy all year.” The Warmth were unable to secure a Damian Lillard contract in the summer of 2023, and their biggest additions in the summer of 2024 were veteran Alec Burks and rookie Kel’el Ware. (Caleb Martin left for Philadelphia on a separate agency.) Given the strength of the management teams at the convention, no one is picking the Heat to return to the Finals.
“But I believe in this team, I really believe in these guys,” Riley mentioned. “Bam, Jimmy and Tyler, to some extent, maybe Terry has to be better. It’s always about can they produce more, can they be more, can they be more together. I’ve seen the improvement… So I think We have a core of really great players who need to find another level of greatness. This is their time.
Miami will play its final preseason game on Friday in Memphis. It will not hide the regular season at home against the Orlando Witchery on October 23.
