His agent Bernard Lee is doing what he must to control the narrative. ESPN’s Shams Charania is reporting on what he believes is concrete sourcing. Arizona has insiders confirming Charania. All the while, Jimmy Butler is making merry.
Over the last few weeks, and after saying there isn’t really such a thing as bad publicity, Butler has dyed his hair blonde, blue, red and now orange for Thursday’s game against the Toronto Raptors. He finished with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists, playing 29 minutes in a 114-104 victory for the Miami Heat.
What could those colors possibly represent? Social media’s investigators have tied blonde with the Golden State Warriors, blue with the Dallas Mavericks, red with the Houston Rockets, and orange with the Phoenix Suns. Those are the four teams he has been linked with since the initial ESPN report came out that the Heat are open to moving Butler for the right offer.
Jimmy Butler continues his hair color trolling 😭💔
Blonde (Warriors)
Blue (Mavs)
Red (Rockets)
Now Orange (Suns) pic.twitter.com/yU4xWfJoH0— 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙏 𝙉𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 (@HeatvsHaters) December 12, 2024
Butler has never been one to shy away from controversy. There was his infamous exit from the Minnesota Timberwolves, where many remember him forcing the starting group to scrimmage against him and third stringers, and still finding a way to win. Then, he did an interview with Rachel Nichols that only invited further chaos.
He didn’t leave the Philadelphia 76ers without causing a stir either, calling out the lack of commitment and willingness to make hard decisions and be honest with each other. After one game in which he led the Heat to a win over the Sixers, Butler was seen and heard on camera saying, “Tobias Harris over me?!”
Considering how explosive those exits were, this isn’t even par for the course.
Things might get interesting if Heat team president Pat Riley actually cares enough to read into the different hair colors and believes them to be subtle messaging. Both Riley and Butler are hard-nosed personalities. It seems like they’ve taken a very business-like approach (albeit petty in Butler’s case) in serving each of their own best interests ever since Butler wanted an extension last summer but didn’t receive one.
In a contract year, Butler is averaging 19.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 55.7 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range. He led the Heat to NBA Finals appearances in 2020 and 2023 before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets, respectively.
At 13-10, Miami has won four straight games and sits fifth in the East, just one game back of the New York Knicks for home-court advantage.
