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Jimmy Butler trade: Fan in stands breaks news to Heat players, including an inquisitive Kevin Love

jason owens
Staff writer

The NBA trade deadline has been wild.

Take for, instance, the Jimmy Butler trade that sent the disgruntled Heat star from Miami to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. News of the trade broke just before the Warriors tipped off against the Jazz and in the middle of Miami's game against the 76ers.

While Warriors players and coaches learned of the trade in their locker room prior to tip, Heat players did not get an official memo when the news broke. Instead, they learned on the bench from a fan in the stands. In Philadelphia.

Seriously. A Heat fan with prime tickets behind the Miami bench was there to break the news to Kevin Love, Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. He documented the moment on video.

"We got Kyle Anderson, Dennis Schröder and Andrew Wiggins," the fan said as Love, Herro and Jaquez listened attentively.

Love didn't appear impressed with the reported haul. He had questions.

"Anything else, any draft capital?" Love asked, showing off his future front-office chops.

"We robbed them," the fan responded. "First-round pick, protected."

Love then wanted to know the year of the pick, which wasn't available at the time. It turns out that it's a 2025 pick with top-10 protection.

Love provided his side of the interaction after the game, via the Miami Herald:

“Somebody told me it on the bench during the game,” Love said. “I kind of turned around, it caught my ear. So of course, I wanted to know all the info. Because I’ve been talking to these guys about how it all works with aprons and the new CBA and everything. So I wanted to try and even understand where that could work.”

The deal evolved a bit from the initial reports, and it isn't exactly as the fan explained. But he was close. Schröder's reportedly headed to the Jazz, and the Heat are reportedly landing P.J. Tucker. And it isn't clear if Anderson is staying in Miami. Full details can be found here.

There wasn't much emotion from the Heat bench, which is understandable considering how Butler forced his way out of Miami.