Bernard Lee, the agent of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, posted a confident statement about his client on X after a fan mentioned how well the veteran played on the NBA bubble some years ago.
Butler carried the Miami Heat to the 2020 NBA Finals in his first season there.
During Miami’s long playoff run, the now 34-year-old accomplished a little bit of everything on both sides of the floor, averaging 22.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game while shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from three in 21 appearances.
Butler also played possibly his finest series of the 2020 NBA Playoffs in Miami’s most significant series, the NBA Finals. The Heat were ousted in six games by LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers, but Miami gave Los Angeles a good run in the championship series.
Against Los Angeles, the former Marquette University standout averaged 26.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 9.8 assists per game while shooting 55.2% from the field.
Three years later, in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, Butler pulled off another spectacular individual postseason run, leading the Heat to the NBA Finals. Butler’s numbers in the 2020 NBA Playoffs were great, but some of them were even better during Miami’s journey to the NBA Finals in 2023, when the team was seeded eighth in the Eastern Conference.
Butler averaged 26.9 points per game during 22 postseason games in 2023.
However, the Heat were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Butler had an MCL injury shortly before the start of the playoffs, and he missed the entire series.
Even though Butler did not have the opportunity to light up the NBA once more in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, his performance in last year’s playoffs reveals that he is still one of the league’s best clutch players.
