After one of their teammates got traded in a massive blockbuster deal, players on the Miami Heat found out about the deal through a fan sitting courtside at their game.
On Wednesday night, the Miami Heat dealt wantaway forward Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors as part of a massive and complicated five-team trade.
Butler was suspended from the team at the time and did not travel with them to their game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
But after the trade was broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania, one fan sitting courtside in Philadelphia shared the news with three Heat stars: Tyler Herro, Kevin Love, and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
The fan broke down the trade, telling the players ‘we robbed them’ leading to different reactions from all of them.
A slack-jawed Jaquez seemed stunned by the deal, Herro kept looking back at the fan in disbelief, and Love continued prying for details about the trade.
The Miami Heat have traded wantaway superstar Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors
L to R: Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr, guard Tyler Herro, and forward Kevin Love find out about the deal from a fan during their game on Wednesday evening against the Philadelphia 76ers
The full details are as follows: with Butler going to Golden State, Miami is getting forward Andrew Wiggins, guard Kyle Anderson, and a protected first round pick from the Warriors in return.
Elsewhere in the deal, Miami received guard Dennis Schroder from Golden State before flipping him to the Utah Jazz in exchange for forward PJ Tucker.
A deal to send guard Anderson from the Warriors, through the Heat, and to the Toronto Raptors has appeared to have broken down. According to Charania, the Heat are keeping Anderson for now but may move him later.
Finally, the Warriors are sending guard Lindy Waters III to the Detroit Pistons. Detroit will also be getting guard Josh Richardson from the Heat.
Charania’s sources also say that Butler was able to sign an extension with the Warriors, which was a rumored sticking point in preventing a deal with Golden State from being done.
Butler inked a two-year, $121million extension with Golden State through the 2026-27 season. He also declined his player option in the 2025-26 season.
Butler and the Heat had arrived at a stalemate in trade negotiations after the 35-year-old repeatedly demanded to be sent away from Miami in recent weeks.
It ended with the team indefinitely suspending Butler as team president Pat Riley looked to find a trade partner to move the wantaway star.
The Heat are receiving forward Andrew Wiggins and a first round pick from Golden State
Butler is now off to join forces with Warriors superstar Steph Curry for one more shot at a title
Now, the deal is done and the Heat get an incredibly good package of starters and role players while Butler can try and provide Warriors star Stephen Curry with one last run at an NBA title.
Butler’s final weeks with the franchise were fraught with issues as he demanded to be moved, only for the team to initially push back on his request before eventually relenting.
That led to a post-game interview in early January where Butler said he wanted to ‘get my joy back’ in playing basketball, which he believed wasn’t possible in Miami.
Those comments resulted in a seven-game suspension for Butler, which he served before returning to the team.
Butler was then suspended again for two games after missing a team flight.
It was just last week when the Heat suspended him indefinitely. Butler found out he wouldn’t be starting in games going forward and that caused him to walk out of a practice without permission.
Since then, Butler has not appeared in a game and has been patiently waiting and open for a move – which has now arrived.
The trade comes off the back of two blockbuster trades that occurred within a 24-hour window on Sunday.
The saga between Butler and Miami Heat team president Pat Riley has now come to an end
Butler’s deal comes right before the NBA Trade Deadline as many stars have swapped teams
First, the Los Angeles Lakers sent big man Anthony Davis and other pieces to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for point guard Luka Doncic.
That move was decried by Mavericks fans, who staged a fake funeral outside the American Airlines Center in protest of giving up the 25-year-old Doncic, who was the face of the franchise and its future.
On Sunday evening, the San Antonio Spurs acquired guard De’Aaron Fox from the Sacramento Kings in a three-team deal.
The NBA Trade Deadline closes at 3:00pm ET on Thursday afternoon.
