This week was NBA media day for teams around the league, which gave fans a chance to anticipate what kind of hairstyle Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler might show up with. Last year, Butler shocked everyone by debuting a new “emo” look, but this year, to some fans’ disappointment, the Heat star didn’t show up with anything out of the ordinary.
However, this doesn’t mean that a new hairstyle wasn’t considered, per Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel on X, formerly Twitter.
“Jimmy Butler admits there, indeed, was a plan to show up with another unique look at media day, had his timing allowed. Asked if bald was an option, Butler laughed and said it would take at least $200 to get him to consider,” reported Winderman.
What is the Heat’s ceiling in 2024-25?
The Heat profile as one of the more interesting teams in the NBA. On the one hand, no team in the Eastern Conference besides the Boston Celtics has had more sustained success over the last five seasons than the Heat, who have made two trips to the NBA Finals and another trip to Game 7 of the Conference Finals during that span.
On the other hand, most if not all pundits currently have the Heat in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoff picture at the current juncture despite having essentially the same core pieces that got them on those deep playoff runs.
Of course, Butler is now 35 years old, and although he remains a player that no one wants to face in the playoffs, his play during the regular season has become increasingly pedestrian in recent years, combined with extensive amounts of missed time due to injury.
Heat fans are certainly hoping that the incentive of a possible new contract next offseason will motivate Butler to channel the postseason version of himself a few months early this year.
Meanwhile, Bam Adebayo remains one of the best big men in the NBA and is theoretically just now entering the prime years of his career, and Terry Rozier is expected to be back and healthy after he was one of the many Heat players to miss last year’s opening round loss to the Celtics.
An interesting decision for head coach Erik Spoelstra will be whether to start talented but inconsistent former sixth man of the year Tyler Herro, or to bring him off the bench, where he thrived during the 2021-22 season.
In any case, Miami opens up its season on October 23 vs the Orlando Magic.
