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There were a couple of massive trades in the NBA this season, and one of them involved the Miami Heat. Shortly before the NBA trade deadline, the Heat engaged in a blockbuster trade that sent superstar Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors had a struggled a bit up to that point in the season, but Butler helped them turn things around. Unfortunately, he didn't show up when his team needed him most against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
Golden State took Game 1 of its series against Minnesota on the road, and Stephen Curry was out for a good portion of that game. However, Curry's absence was too much to overcome during the next four games as the Timberwolves won them all and took the series in five games.
With Stephen Curry out, the Warriors needed Jimmy Butler to step up and fill that void. He is usually at his best in the playoffs, but Golden State didn't get that version of him that we have seen so many times before in the postseason.
“I didn’t like…the way he just approached the game,” Dwyane Wade said, according to an article from AHN Fire Digital. “I know Jimmy is a pass-first guy. I know he’s about getting his teammates the ball and wanting to see them shine. But it’s a point where…this ain’t working. You gotta go. He wouldn’t look at the basket, and I’ve seen this before. I’ve seen it in a Heat jersey. And so, in a sense, when Pat [Riley] come out, Pat say, ‘We ain’t wanna give you the extension,’ it’s not always because of injuries. Sometimes it’s, ‘I need to see what you gonna do in every moment, not just in one moment.’”
Dwyane Wade was disappointed with Butler during that series. He knows what Butler is capable of, and he didn't see him reaching his full potential against the Timberwolves. It ended up hurting the team.
“We saw Jimmy in the bubble. He was a dog,” Wade continued. “I saw Jimmy in another Finals too against the Denver Nuggets, and he did the exact same thing he did the other night. He did not look at the basket. I don’t wanna see that. Jimmy Butler is too good of a basketball player to not have his imprint on the game, and sorry, sir, when it’s time for you to take over, you just have to. And even if you can’t do it from a standpoint of you ain’t making no shots, I don’t care. Shoot. It’s bad offense if you’re not shooting. To get too close in that paint and not putting that ball up to that basket, that’s bad offense when your team needs you to do it.”
With the loss to Minnesota, the Warriors' season is now over. Who knows what would've happened if Jimmy Butler had a healthy Stephen Curry during that series.
