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The Miami Heat have been one of the best teams in the NBA all season long, as they secured the Eastern Conference's number-one seed. However, that success didn't prevent them from experiencing tension within the franchise, as tempers flared when star Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra nearly came to blows on the bench. According to the latest Heat rumors, rival players are wondering if the fallout of that incident could involve a Butler trade in the event of an early playoff exit, per The Athletic.
A full offseason, and the signings of Lowry and P.J. Tucker, freshened up the Heat, and to this point, the team has endured. But when Spoelstra’s clipboard hit the floor in Butler’s wake, rival executives and even players on other teams noticed. They began to speculate that in the event of an early playoff exit, the Heat could look to move on from Butler, which is bonkers to even consider, given the three-year, $146 million contract extension they signed him to last summer. Rival players speculated that Butler, worn down by the demands of Heat “culture,” could seek a trade if it doesn’t work out this spring.
Immediately after the tensions boiled over between Butler and Spoelstra, rival players and executives began to wonder about a potential Butler trade from the Heat, per rumors.
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Of course, given that the Heat just signed Butler to a big extension this past offseason, the playoff exit would have to be a shockingly bad one for the superstar forward to seek greener pastures.
However, if what the NBA world saw when Butler and Spoelstra aired out their differences on the bench was indicative of a much larger problem, than maybe an early playoff exit could spell the end of Butler's time in Miami.
