NBA: Heat All Good With Jimmy Butler Like They Had Dwyane Wade

The Miami Heat appear to channel their relationship with Jimmy Butler to Dwyane Wade.

Butler and the Heat seem to be establishing a good relationship thus far. Following Butler’s absence during the start of the regular season due to paternity leave, the Heat organization appears to have no issues about it at all.

According to Ira Winderman of Sun Sentinel, a Miami insider who has covered the Miami Heat for more than 2,300 games, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will be all good as long as they keep Butler satisfied the same way they did with Wade.

“As long as he (Spoelstra) has Jimmy Butler, all is fine, just as he had Dwyane Wade. It's when you lose your leading man that there is trouble. Now, if Jimmy were to join the disgruntled, that would be a completely different story,” Winderman said.

After missing the first three games for a newborn daughter, some believe that Butler's commitment to the Heat is a major concern. However, during a recent media scrum, Winderman addressed the issue and stated that the Heat just did the right thing to do for Butler’s case as the team wants to keep their new superstar.

“Because the last thing you want at the start of a four-year, $142 million commitment is friction. Remember, the Heat in recent seasons have granted similar paternity leave to Dwyane Wade, Hassan Whiteside and Dion Waiters, so there’s an implied policy already in place. At the least, the Heat are putting themselves on the list of best places to work for expectant fathers,” Winderman said.

Meanwhile, Butler already spoke about the issue and emphasized on his thoughts about being a father and professional basketball player at the same time. According to him, life is a lot different now.

“I’m fortunate to have a baby girl now,” Butler said in advance of Tuesday’s game against the Hawks.

“Hell, I started looking at life different a long time ago. But I definitely look at it a lot differently now. I feel like every time I leave the house, every time I hop in the car, every time I do anything, I feel like I got to make it home. I look forward to having that feeling for the rest of my life,” Butler revealed.

The 30-year-old scorer even recalled how he thought about missing games prior to the delivery of her daughter. As per Butler, God really chose to make it happen during the opening night.

“That whole week leading up to it, I was like, ‘OK, ain’t nobody going to know anything. I’m not going to miss any games, I’m still going to hoop.’ God was like, ‘Nah, this is family. This is everything.’ It happened to be on opening night,” Butler recalled.