Heat won’t trade All-Star Jimmy Butler, says Pat Riley

The Miami Heat have no plans to trade Jimmy Butler, team president Pat Riley said Thursday.

“We don’t normally comment on rumors, but all of this speculation has become a distraction for the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear that we will not trade Jimmy Butler,” he said. in a statement.

Riley’s statement comes a day after league sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania that six-time All-Star Butler prefers a trade away from Miami before the Feb. 6 deadline. Butler is open to trade destinations such as the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets, league sources told Charania.

The Heat play in Orlando on Thursday. Butler did not fly with the team to Orlando on Wednesday night and has been ruled out for the game due to his return to competitive conditioning. He sprained his ankle in Miami’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. He missed the rest of that game and the Heat’s next two games (against the Orlando Magic on Saturday and the Brooklyn Nets on Monday), but illness, not the ankle, was cited as the reason.

“You have to compartmentalize in this business,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Thursday at the team’s morning shootaround in Orlando. “We want Jimmy here. There’s no ifs ands or buts about it. And it’s just unfortunate that you have to control or deal with a lot of noise outside.”

Butler earns $49 million on his contract with the Heat for this season and has a $52 million player option for 2025-26 after the sides failed to reach an extension last summer. Butler intends to decline his 2025-26 player option and become a free agent in July, sources told Charania.

“I actually like it,” Butler said earlier this month when asked about his connection to trade talks and speculation. “It’s good that it’s talked about. I don’t think there’s such a thing as bad publicity, to a certain extent.”

Butler, 35, is averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists this season. He is one of the NBA’s elite competitors and a perennial playoff player. His teams have made the playoffs in 12 of his first 13 seasons, including the previous five seasons in Miami, where he led the Heat to two NBA Finals berths and an additional Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

The Heat (14-13) are currently in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.