Will Jimmy Butler be in a Miami Heat uniform next season?
MIAMI - It's been a week since the Miami Heat were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs.
It was a tough loss for the team, but on Monday night, Heat president Pat Riley is not holding back about his superstar and the future of Miami.
The question is how much basketball will forward Jimmy Butler see at the Kaseya Center in the immediate future.
Last week the Miami Herald reported he wanted a max two-year extension. When asked about that Monday, Riley was very non-committal on the topic.
Riley says internally they haven't discussed a contract extension but he did harp on player availability.
Butler since arriving in Miami has never played more than 64 games and over the weekend, Jimmy Butler made comments about possibly beating the Celtics or even the Knicks had he played.
"Is that Jimmy trolling? Or is that Jimmy serious? You know, if you're not on the court, playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut," Riley said.
Riley was clearly delivering a strong message to Butler and the rest of the roster. He knows what Butler is capable of on the court and says there are no plans to trade him at this time, but rather retool around what they already have.
"This five year window. We've been pretty successful. We haven't won the chip. And I think that bothers everybody. But our organization is not about rebuilding. I'll never use the word. We'll retool as if we're rebuilding to try to make it better. We've always done that. And we're not going to avoid anything we have an opportunity to bring in who we think is the critical piece. There's only a couple of them."