The ongoing beef between Jimmy Butler and Chris Paul boiled over during a recent preseason matchup between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Leaked audio from the game was released, and the back-and-forth is another installment in a long-running feud between these two players, per a Reddit post.
On Tuesday, Paul was defending against Nikola Jovic and committed a hard foul. While Jovic was shooting his free throws, Butler had words with Paul over what he felt was a dirty play. Butler guarded Paul on the next series and pushed the Spurs guard out of bounds. That’s when the war of words started.
Paul was heard saying to Butler, “I got 20 years in his s**t!”
Butler replied back, “I don’t give a f**k how many years you got. I don’t give a f**k!”
When speaking to reporters after the game, Paul didn’t seem to pay it any mind.
“I don’t know, man. Same old, same old. It’s the NBA. Ain’t nobody doing nothing.”
Butler and Paul are both known for chirping with players. The pair also has a bit of a history. During the 2019-20 season, Paul and Duncan Robinson had a moment on the court with some physical play.
On an inbounds pass, Paul aggressively stole the ball away from Robinson. While pressed in the corner of the court, Paul threw the ball against Robinson’s neck/shoulder area while jumping out of bounds. Moments later, Butler was being covered by Paul and lowered his shoulder into Paul’s chest for a hard and seemingly intentional offensive foul.
Make-or-break year for Heat, Jimmy Butler
It was just five years ago the Miami Heat were in the NBA Finals. The team’s core remains mostly intact with Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson. Pat Riley, the Heat’s president and minority owner since 1995, spoke about what’s at stake for this year’s team, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.
“Six years, yeah, this is a telling year for the team. It should be,” Riley said Thursday. “They’ve been together for six years. The core has been together for six years, they’ve all gotten better.”
“Everything changes, I think, for the better with continuity and the fact that we believe in this roster,” Riley continued. “Does it mean that if we don’t win this year or if we don’t go deep this year, there are going to be massive changes? No, it doesn’t mean that. But they should know that this should be a crucial year for them. They want to win. They’ve been [to the NBA Finals] twice, but they want to win.”
With Butler in the final year of his deal, this might be this group’s final season to make a run at a title.
