Former Washington Commanders QB and former ESPN college football analyst Robert Griffin III has never been afraid to share his opinions on subjects dealing from sports to politics to religion.
This time RGIII shares his thoughts on what is going on in the NBA with the Miami Heat and their star player Jimmy Butler.
Robert Griffin III Shares Reaction to the Jimmy Butler Situation
On Monday, Jan. 27, the NBA’s Miami Heat announced that the star was suspended indefinitely after walking out of practice in preparation for that night’s game against the Orlando Magic.
This is Butler’s third internal suspension this season, which led Griffin to respond.
“The Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler need a divorce,” Griffin said simply.
The Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler need a divorce.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) January 27, 2025
The Heat released a statement explaining why he was once again suspended by the team.
“The suspension is due to a continued pattern of disregard of team rules, engaging in conduct detrimental to the team and intentionally withholding services,” the team said in its statement. “This includes walking out of practice earlier today.”
According to ESPN, Butler has missed nine of Miami’s past 12 games because of the previous suspensions, the first of which was for seven games due to conduct that the Heat deemed detrimental. After Butler returned for three games, the Heat suspended him for two games after he missed a team flight to Milwaukee, Wisc., last week.
Butler is presumably acting out because he wants a trade, and the team is trying its best to do that. However, Butler is about to lose over $500,000 because of this latest suspension.
ESPN salary cap expert Bobby Marks said that the Heat are going to continue to suspend Butler if he keeps these actions up.
“We continue to learn that Miami will do this suspension dance all season with Jimmy Butler,” Marks said. “If Butler continues to give the Heat a reason like walking out of shootaround, he will get suspended. And just like Ben Simmons with Philadelphia [76ers], Butler will likely get a good chunk of the money back after it goes to arbitration or gets settled.”
The Heat and Butler are playing a game of chicken to see who blinks first. Right now, it appears the team isn’t going to give in to Butler’s demands despite his desire to be traded.
Butler’s actions are probably why, at least right now, no team will touch him because of his poor attitude, but according to him, his beef isn’t with the players, it’s clearly with management.
His actions seem akin to Antonio Brown and how he walked off the field when he played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and never returned to the NFL. Butler better hope that doesn’t happen to him.