As I’ve talked about before, there’s nothing quite like Media Day in the NBA. It’s the perfect opportunity for everyone to feel like this is the year for their favorite team, the players/GMs spend the day pandering to fans, and optimism is at its highest. I’ll never get on any fanbase for maybe getting a little too drunk on Media Day hype, because that’s the whole point. At this moment in time, anything is possible. With a few weeks to go before we see what everyone actually looks like on the court, this moment in time is about daydreaming about what “could be”.

These last few years Media Day has also meant something else. It had become a bit of a tradition that when it came to Jimmy Butler, Media Day represented a day to troll. We all remember his hair from last year when he unleashed Emo Jimmy and then the long hair from the year before

a move that depending on who your favorite team is came off a certain way. Heat fans of course loved it, other fanbases looked at them as the latest corny Jimmy Butler move to perhaps help take away from what was going on in terms of the actual basketball.

I’m pretty sure we were all expecting another troll move from Butler this year given what he’s done these last few, so it was a bit of a surprise to see that there was no trolling to be found. No jokes, no bullshit, all business

Now, there are a few ways to look at a move like this. It’s totally possible to get all high on Media Day hype and use this as an example of Butler already being locked in and ready for a monster season, something the Heat are absolutely going to need from him they have hopes of avoiding the Play In.

And while I think that’s probably part of it, to me this is more telling regarding the overall storyline of Jimmy Butler heading into this season. Remember, it was only a few months ago that Pat Riley basically told him to shut the fuck up when he tried to troll the Celtics and Knicks during the playoffs

and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll remember, the Heat decided to not give Jimmy Butler an extension this summer, which means after this season all he has left on his deal is a $52M player option. While I do think he’d be insane to turn that money down and hit the free agent market, all it takes is one team to be interested and have money to spend. We’re already hearing about the Nets potentially being interested, but I do think it’s in Butler’s best interest to figure out a way to stay with the Heat.

How do you do that? You show the guy calling the shots (Riley) that you’re done playing games and are committed to a big season. Something tells me that if Jimmy Butler got that extension earlier this summer, we have a much different version of him today at Media Day. As a Heat fan, this would excite me, because it shows he’s finally taking things seriously. That was always part of their issue these last few years aside from the brutal injuries. They basically punted on taking the regular season seriously in hopes that Playoff Jimmy would save them once April rolled around. As we saw, one sprained ankle can change everything, which is why the regular season and seeding matters. Perhaps avoiding the Play In would have prevented his injury altogether, and who knows what happens then.

If the Heat have no plans of extending Butler even after this season regardless of what happens, well then it’s in their best interest to flip the asset so you don’t risk losing the player for nothing. That’s the extreme scenario and one that I don’t think is all that likely, but it’s yet another reason that could help explain why Butler is showing up this year without all the funny business. Deep down he probably knows that unless he’s on his best behavior, Pat Riley might just bite the bullet and trade him somewhere where he may not want to be. It’s not like he has a no-trade clause, so coming in with this approach makes a whole lot more sense when you think about it.

With how competitive the East has now become (in theory), this is a big bounce back year for the Heat to show that when healthy, they are the same team that finished as the top overall seed in 2021-22. Having a healthy and locked in Jimmy Butler is a key part of that, and we’re about to see just how much he has left in the tank at age 35.