The Miami Heat traded Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors at the deadline after the star turned problematic. Since, the Warriors team has trended upward with a re-energized and motivated Jimmy Butler, while the Heat have trended downward in search of a direction in the post-Butler era. With the trend of the two organizations, it’s time to ask, should the Miami Heat pack it in for next year?

To be very clear, I never encourage professional athletes to go on the court and intentionally throw games. I would never encourage a coach to intentionally put together a lackadaisical gameplan in order to lose games. When jobs and livelihoods are on the line, you should always put full effort into your work and craft.

But when you start seeing life after Jimmy Butler, the Heat organization might be placed in a better position if they lose more games than they win.

The Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, bringing them to a 27-30 record, eighth-best in the Eastern Conference and would directly put them in the play-in tournament for a third consecutive season. Back in 2023 it worked out, making it all the way to the NBA Finals before losing to the Denver Nuggets. But without Butler and the trends in the Eastern Conference, a championship run from the play-in tournament looks almost impossible this year, playing the Cleveland Cavaliers or defending champion Boston Celtics in the first round.

The Heat’s 2023 run was an anomaly, and as special as it was, would be more of a miracle this year.

So what does life look like without Jimmy Butler? It’s almost similar to life without LeBron James when he left after the 2014 season to return to Cleveland.

LeBron James left a Big 3 of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to return to Cleveland, while Jimmy Butler leaves a Big 3 of Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo in Miami.

The difference is Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo are in, or entering, the primes of their careers, while Wade and Bosh were leaving their prime.

The Heat team after LeBron James had an offseason to retool with Luol Deng and the emergence of Hassan Whiteside, while acquiring Goran Dragic later at the trade deadline from the Suns. Even adding pieces to help Wade and Bosh, who missed significant playing time that year with 62 and 44 games respectively, the Heat still finished 10th in the East and missed the postseason. That’s after an entire calendar year to fill the hole LeBron James left.

For this Heat squad, they’re having to replace Jimmy Butler mid-year. It’s not simply replacing the production or improving the locker room morale, it’s creating a new identity in a post-Butler era.

57 games into the season, Miami still hasn’t established an effective starting lineup or set rotations. The Heat acquired Davion Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins at the deadline and have inserted them into the starting lineup, while Duncan Robinson gets reduced to a bench role and young forwards Haywood Highsmith and Jaime Jaquez Jr. are not seeing the court. It feels like the Heat’s production has been on the back of first-time All-Star Tyler Herro.

You look at the rest of the lineup. Bam Adebayo’s struggled this season, but has seen improvement offensively since the trade deadline. Playing Adebayo alongside rookie Kel’el Ware shows promise and the pairing gives Adebayo better matchups playing at the 4, but Ware is growing into his own with more playing time and trial by fire. Terry Rozier has been a disappointment and his involvement in a gambling investigation looms over his head. The Heat also saw Nikola Jovic go down with a fractured hand this week and is expected to miss an extended amount of time.

With 25 games remaining, 17 games come against current playoff or play-in teams. The Miami Heat are separated by lower teams in the Eastern Conference by 1 game (Hawks), 5 games (Bulls), 6.5 games (Nets), and 7.5 games (76ers). It’s unlikely the Heat drop below the Toronto Raptors, but as we saw last year with the Atlanta Hawks, winning the lottery odds can happen to anyone with a 3% chance successfully landing them the #1 pick.

Could the Heat tank for Cooper Flagg? You can’t play games in the NBA with the expectation to lose out and get a generational talent like Flagg. However, the Heat losing games could help set this team up for a brighter future.

With Flagg being a sure-fire #1 overall pick, the Heat could see a Tre Johnson from Texas, Ace Bailey from Rutgers, or Cooper Flagg’s teammate Kon Knueppel from Duke fall to them with an earlier lottery pick. There’s talent outside Flagg that could help this Heat team sooner rather than later.

Miami doesn’t want to wait until 2026 to start rebuilding, when the team can throw money at stars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaren Jackson Jr., and even Luka Doncic if he doesn’t sign long-term with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Heat also doesn’t want to spend money in 2025, preventing them from chasing the 2026 NBA free agents.

If the Heat can start setting themselves up for 2026 free agency, it begins by positioning yourself better for the 2025 NBA Draft, acquiring a young piece to either entice a star to bring their talents to South Beach, or included in a blockbuster deal to bring the next star and era to Miami.

The Heat rebuilt after Shaquille O’Neal, rebuilt after LeBron James, and will rebuild after Jimmy Butler. It’s the Heat Culture way and fans just need to be patient for the next era of Heat basketball.