“Jimmy Butler has to be chuckling over this”: Skip Bayless shares his two cents on Heat’s disappointing playoff exit after drama-riddled season

Skip Bayless referenced Jimmy Butler after the Miami Heat got swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Miami's season is over after Cleveland humiliated them with a monstrous 138-83 victory.

While Miami did go into the playoffs without Butler by their side for the first time since 2019, the guard has been essential in the Heat's five postseason runs. He led the team to two NBA Finals appearances in 2020 and 2023.

With him traded away, sports analyst Skip Bayless couldn't help but predict how both Butler and Riley must be feeling about their current situations.

"Jimmy Butler has to be chuckling over this," Bayless wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Pat Riley has to be seething."

Jimmy Butler opted to be traded to leave South Beach due to a fallout between him and the Miami Heat President, Pat Riley. It looks like leaving the team that he carried for half a decade was the best decision he made. Miami is already knocked out of the postseason, while Butler's current team, the Golden State Warriors, has a 2-1 series advantage over the Houston Rockets.

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The Miami Heat were destroyed by the Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers have advanced to the semi-finals as they secured a dominant victory over the Miami Heat in Game 4 on Monday. Throughout the regular season, the Cavs have proven to be a worthy title contender this year. After sweeping Miami in the first round, Cleveland has once again proven its worth.

As of this writing, the Cavaliers and the OKC Thunder are the only teams to advance to the semi-finals. The Cavs will now wait for whoever wins in the series between the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks. The Pacers currently have a 3-1 advantage over the Bucks, which should give them all the momentum leading up to Game 5.

So far, it's been Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland leading the charge for the Cavs in the playoffs. Mitchell is averaging 24.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals. As for Garland, he's averaging 24.0 ppg, 7.0 apg and 2.5 rpg.

As the Cavaliers remain healthy throughout the semi-finals, their chances of making it to the Eastern Conference Finals are high. If they accomplish making an ECF appearance, it'll be the first time since LeBron James' time in Cleveland that the team has made a deep playoff run.