Despite Pat Riley’s statement, the trade rumors about Jimmy Butler are not letting up and he was asked point blank whether he wants to actually stay in Miami with the Heat.
“Who knows? I don’t, but right now I’m here, so I’m going to make the most of it, and I’m gonna compete, and I am gonna win,” Butler said. “That’s all that I got. It’s a lot of talk. It is a lot of noise, which I’m cool with. I love that. I thrive in that. But it keeps all y’all wondering.”
Heat president Pat Riley directly addressed the rumors himself last week when he said, “We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches,” Riley wrote in a statement Thursday. “Therefore, we will make it clear — We are not trading Jimmy Butler.”
Butler directly addressed Riley’s statement on Tuesday when asked about it by reporters.
“I don’t know. We will see. Only time will tell,” Butler said. “I can’t tell you what’s finna happen come tomorrow. I appreciate the statement, but this is a business after all, I know what is capable. I won’t have any hard feelings either way.”
He was asked if he or his agent Bernie Lee has spoken to Riley recently, but Jimmy didn’t go there. “Next,” He said.
The Heat star also went on to dismiss the narrative that speculation on his future has been a distraction for either him, his teammates or both.
“I mean, I think we’re used to that by now — all the outside noise,” Butler said. “At least it’s not about anybody else. At least it’s about me, so everybody else gets the free rein to go and hoop, play free. And me too, because I honestly do not care about getting traded, where I’m supposed to go, who’s saying what. I play through all of that noise easily.”
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