Jimmy Butler Confident Heat Will Get Giannis Antetokounmpo Or Victor Oladipo
Jimmy Butler seems confident that the Miami Heat will go out and provide him with additional star support.
When he first arrived, there was some chatter about pairing him up with Chris Paul. That did not end up materializing. Paul was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder instead.
Despite that, Butler remains optimistic regarding the odds of Pat Riley giving him another star. He said this much on Friday during a session with the media.
“I think it’ll happen,” he said.
“Only time will tell. I’m telling you, the organization is really good at getting what they want to win a championship. It’s gonna happen. We have all the key pieces. We have shooters. We got the youth. We got the vets. And I think, a little Miami sunshine never hurt anybody.”
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Jimmy Butler Could Be Talking About Giannis Or Oladipo
A few months back, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Miami was very intrigued by the prospect of signing both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Oladipo.
“(The Heat) have made it known, ‘We are going to target free agents in that summer of 2021.’ Not only Giannis, Victor Oladipo as well,” he said at the time.
Normally, lofty dreams of signing arguably the best player in the NBA and a very elite one in a single offseason would be written off as gibberish. However, Riley’s track record of acquiring superstars affords him a benefit of the doubt that most don’t get.
Antetokounmpo is locked in place with the Milwaukee Bucks for two more seasons. Same goes for Victor Oladipo. That said, both men will be free agents in 2021, and both have ties to Heat personnel. In particular, Antetokounmpo and Oladipo are said to be close to breakout big man Bam Adebayo.
Jimmy Butler With Even 1 More Star Would Be Deadly
Butler has thrived in his first season with Miami. Despite not having a second star, he led the Heat to a No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and was a mere four games back of the No. 3 Boston Celtics.
Over the course of the regular season, Butler averaged 19.9 points on 45.5 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds and 6 assists
Many wondered how the 30-year-old would look in Miami after rocky, emotional stints with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers, but the experiment has been an unbridled success.
If Butler was this successful with no real running mate, it would be fascinating to see what he could accomplish alongside someone like Antetokounmpo or Oladipo.
Obviously signing either one of those men will not be easy, but if anyone has the wherewithal to pull it off its Riley.
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For Now, Heat Will Focus On Playoffs
It remains to be seen what will happen in the future, but for now Miami has its hands full with their first round match-up in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The fourth-ranked Heat will take on the fifth-ranked Indiana Pacers next week. It should be one of the more competitive Eastern Conference playoff battles, and will tell fans a lot about where both organizations stand.
Currently, odds makers have installed Butler and Co. as the early favorites.
Sat down with @JimmyButler, who says the Heat can win the title *this* year, “and I don’t give a damn what anybody says about that.” We also talked about his recent dust-ups with TJ Warren and Chris Paul…Jimmy: “I don’t need friends here in the bubble.” pic.twitter.com/tCgTFap0iq
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) August 14, 2020
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
