“When it comes to leaders, I’ve always felt that leaders are those people who can inspire, inspire others to dream more… Jimmy is, to me, a leader.” While there have been differences between Pat Riley and Jimmy Butler over the years, Pat is someone who has also often held his player in high regard. Having worked with the star hooper for 5 years, the Showtime Era legend has been the person the media has gone to for receiving confirmation of rumors about JB’s potential exit.

However, Riley has admitted that they “haven’t had a lot of conversation” about what the future holds for Butler. In light of this, he is now receiving coaxing from outside the org on what next steps he should be pursuing, since a team may already be eyeing the star.

Popular host, Josiah Johnson highlighted Jimmy Butler is looking to play out the season, without an extension deal, to set himself up for a big payday when the time comes. At the same time, however, the co-host also revealed that the Warriors may be looking to take in the player to possibly provide a new ‘Splash Brother’ to Stephen Curry.

Both Gilbert Arenas and Rashad McCants seemed to endorse a move, as a resulting trade could bring Jonathan Kuminga to the Miami Heat. Gil said, “If you’re Pat Riley you’re going after youth?” McCants then highlighted, “Is he not a young Jimmy Butler, Kuminga?”

“Well, that’s hard to tell right now…” Arenas responded. “Probably a little bit more than Jimmy… I want to get rid of Jimmy, though,” said McCants on Gil’s Arena. “I want to get rid of Jimmy.”

The Heat may be motivated to make a move for Jonathan Kuminga in light of a few recent developments. After having spent three years with the Golden State Warriors, the 7th overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft is now up for an extension deal that could go up to a whopping $224 million. In fact, Magic’s Franz Wagner and Cavaliers‘ forward Evan Mobley, both of whom were in the same draft class as Kuminga, have already received five-year extensions on their rookie contracts.

However, with just hours remaining for the deadline to provide the player with a rookie-scale contract, the Warriors have still refused to budge. In fact, it was Rashad McCants himself who stated a month ago that JK “should try to get paid somewhere else.”

Jimmy Butler is currently in the 2nd year of his 3-year, $146.39 million contract with the Miami Heat. Back in June itself, reports were circulating that Cameron Brink’s favorite NBA player was seeking a two-year extension to his existing deal that would pay him an additional $113 million.

Since his existing contract is on till the 2025-26 season, a further extension would keep JB with the Heat for 4 years at a total cost of $214 million. Having turned 35 in September, the franchise may not want to make such a costly commitment to someone approaching his final NBA years. The fact that Butler has missed about 110 regular season games since 2019 does not paint a pretty picture either.

The Heat may not necessarily be ready to give Jonathan Kuminga a $224 million extension, but they can still give him four, or five times more than what he is earning right now in the Bay Area and still save a huge amount by not giving an extension to Jimmy Butler. However, trading the star player would be a slightly difficult process if Riley himself does not wish to engage in a change.

Dismissing shuffle rumors, Pat Riley lays expectations for Jimmy Butler and Co: “They should know that this should be a crucial year for them”

Pat Riley recently engaged in a Q&A session with the media to discuss his team’s future. The upcoming season is set to be the 6th one in which Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Tyler Herro will be competing together. Although the trio has managed to reach two NBA Finals, the fact that they were eliminated last season after just the first round, screams a need for change. However, Pat Riley is not focusing too much on the failures and is instead looking to find whether the players can perform better with a tweak in mentality.

“Everything changes, I think, for the better with continuity and the fact that we believe in this roster,” said Riley. “Does it mean that if we don’t win this year or if we don’t go deep this year, there are going to be massive changes? No, it doesn’t mean that. But they should know that this should be a crucial year for them. They want to win. They’ve been twice, but they want to win.”

In addition to this, when asked if the Heat would lose JB as a free agent, the 79-year-old confirmed that he “wouldn’t want to.” With the deadline for Jonathan Kuminga to sign an extension approaching, and the Miami side’s season opener set to take place a few days from now, the upcoming period may provide an indication of what the future holds for Jimmy Butler.