Jimmy Butler's agent responds to Heat president's criticism of star client

Jimmy Butler's agent — Bernie Lee — responded on Monday to Miami Heat team president Pat Riley's criticism of his star client.

During his season-ending news conference on Monday, Riley called out Butler twice.

The 79-year-old Hall of Famer first criticized the six-time All-Star for his lack of availability during the season. Butler played in 60 games during the 2023-24 regular season before missing the team's second play-in tournament game and the entire first-round series against the Boston Celtics with an MCL injury.

"Taking issue in games in which he plays is just not reality," Lee told Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "This past season, we had a conversation at the start of the year, just with some of the changes, rules changes in the NBA, the priority that was in place to be able to participate in every game he was physically able to participate for, and I can tell you that he lived up that commitment."

In his comments, Riley also said that the two sides discussed Butler's availability "thoroughly" prior to the 2023-24 campaign, but there was a "gray area" in the regular season. When asked if the 34-year-old could still be a top player on a championship-winning team, Riley said, "Yes... but it will take some changes" in his availability.

"Jimmy missed 22 games this past year, a mix of personal reasons and injury," Lee said. "If there was a game that was on the schedule that Jimmy was healthy enough to participate in, he did that. He played in a number of back-to-backs and it was the utmost priority to him to do everything he can to be available."

In an effort to tackle the issue of load management, the NBA invoked a minimum criterion of 65 games played to be eligible for postseason awards.

Lee wasn't done defending Butler.

"If you look at Jimmy’s entire career, I’m not really sure where this narrative is coming from, in terms of constantly dissecting his availability. But if you look at his five years in Miami, the Miami Heat have participated in 61 playoff games, not including these past playoffs that he was injured for. Of those 61, Jimmy has only missed three because of injury. In every single playoff series since he’s been in Miami, he’s led the team in both minutes per game and total minutes," he said. "He’s done that for five straight years. Last year, alone, in the run to the Finals, he played almost 900 minutes in the playoffs (874), essentially like half what he and the majority of players play 2,000 (in the regular season). He played half of that in the course of four series."

The agent added that all 22 of Butler's missed games were for "valid issues and concerns."