Pat Riley criticizes Jimmy Butler’s ‘trolling,’ noncommittal on extension for Heat star

If Jimmy Butler wants to see more pay, Pat Riley will want to see more play.

And in simple terms, that is the entry point to this offseason for the Miami Heat.

Butler is almost certainly going to ask the Heat for a two-year extension this summer — it could guarantee him as much as $113 million for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons — and Riley said Monday in his annual end-of-season remarks that he isn’t sure what the team will do when that moment arrives.

“We have not discussed that internally right now,” Riley said. “We have to look at making that kind of commitment and when do we do it. We don’t have to do it until 2025, actually. But we’ll see. We haven’t made a decision on it, and we haven’t really in earnest discussed it.”

There are a number of factors the Heat will consider — Butler’s playing time among them. He is, without question, an elite player whose time in Miami has been loaded with some signature performances, especially in the playoffs. But he turns 35 in September and has missed 100 regular season games in his five Miami seasons, sitting out for injuries, rest or other reasons nearly 26% of the time.

He suffered a knee injury during the play-in tournament this season and missed Miami’s five-game Round 1 playoff loss to the Boston Celtics.

“That’s a big decision on our part to commit those kinds of resources unless you have somebody who’s going to be there and available every single night,” Riley said. “That’s the truth.”

Riley spoke for about 40 minutes, much of his remarks surrounding Butler, and he lauded Miami’s highest-paid player multiple times — even saying he “moves the needle the most” and that he’s “an incredible player.” The Heat have 268 total wins in Butler’s five seasons, fifth-most in the NBA over that span, and have made two NBA Finals appearances.

But he also didn’t shy away from doling out criticism. Butler, speaking this past weekend at a Formula 1 race in Miami Gardens, said “if I was playing, Boston would be at home, New York damn sure would … be at home.” Butler also trolled the Celtics during the first-round series with a meme on social media after the Heat won Game 2 in Boston. The Celtics then won the next three in blowout fashion to close out Miami.

Riley didn’t seem to like that much. “I thought, ‘Is that Jimmy trolling or is that Jimmy serious?’ If you’re not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut on the criticism of those…