MIAMI – Tyler Herro had a new haircut for media day. Jimmy Butler’s coiffure was nonetheless to be decided.
And with that, the Miami Heat season began in predictably unpredictable trend.
Butler was not at first of Heat media day on Monday morning, after his flight again from Paris was delayed — no purpose was revealed — and he wasn’t attributable to arrive in South Florida till the afternoon. Everyone else was there for the beginning of the season, together with Herro, who sported a new, easy buzzcut to begin the 12 months and mentioned he’s retaining all of it season.
“It’s all business,” Herro mentioned.
Media day is the annual prelude to the beginning of coaching camp and Butler made a splash final 12 months by displaying up principally in costume — new hairdo, some facial piercings and a look that went viral instantly. It was his “Emo Jimmy” section, he mentioned. And he did one thing related in 2022, going via media day with dreadlocks in one other swap from his standard look.
Butler is anticipated to be with the crew for its first observe on Tuesday when coaching camp opens within the Bahamas. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned Butler is “in a good place coming into camp and he’s prepared himself for this camp.”
“He’s at a point now where he needs me to really coach this team at a high level,” Spoelstra mentioned. “He needs me to coach him at a high level, push him to higher levels and I need him to be at his highest level as a player, as a leader and the same goes for everybody else.”
Butler was in Los Angeles final week for the premiere of the Netflix docuseries “Starting 5,” which adopted him and 4 different NBA stars — the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, Boston’s Jayson Tatum, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards and Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis — all through final season. From there, he went to Paris and was seen at Fashion Week occasions together with a Paris Saint-Germain soccer match on Friday evening. Butler makes no secret of his PSG fandom.
This additionally is not any secret: The Heat haven’t been thrilled by what number of video games Butler has missed lately. He was eligible for an extension this summer time that would have netted him as much as $113 million for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons, however no deal was put collectively. Butler may depart after this season as a free agent if he chooses, or a new deal in Miami might be struck within the interim.
The 35-year-old Butler has missed 100 common season video games in his 5 Miami seasons, sitting out for accidents, relaxation or different causes almost 26% of the time. He suffered a knee damage through the play-in event final season and missed Miami’s five-game Round 1 playoff loss to eventual champion Boston.
Heat President Pat Riley mentioned final spring the crew was dealing with “a big decision” on providing Butler any extension, significantly one that will have value the crew greater than $55 million a 12 months.
“That’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless you have somebody who’s going to be there and available every single night,” Riley mentioned after final season. “That’s the truth.”
Spoelstra gave no indication that Monday’s delayed arrival was troublesome. It’s apparent that Butler will begin, alongside captain Bam Adebayo, and Spoelstra strongly recommended that time guard Terry Rozier (who’s full-go for camp after his 2023-24 season ended early due to a neck damage) and Herro are also coming into the 12 months with beginning spots.
Herro has been a Sixth Man of the Year and has mentioned prior to now he needs to be a starter. This 12 months, with the new haircut, he had a new method: He mentioned he’ll take no matter function Miami needs him to have.
“Honestly, I’m just going to leave it to Spo and Pat. Whatever they say I am, that’s what I am,” Herro mentioned. “I’m a starter, I’m off the bench, we’re going to let the best coach in the league decide, we’re going to let one of the best GMs or presidents ever to do it decide if I’m starting or coming off the bench. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win a championship.”
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