"Owes Shams Charania an apology" - Ex-NBA champ issues public demand to Jimmy Butler's agent Bernie Lee

Former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins issued a public demand to Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler's agent, Bernie Lee, to apologize to Perkins' co-worker, ESPN analyst Shams Charania. On Thursday, Perkins took to X, formerly Twitter, to issue the demand for apology.

"Jimmy’s agent owes Shams an apology," Perkins tweeted.

This comes after ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Shams Charania reported on Thursday that Jimmy Butler has officially requested to the Miami Heat for a trade.

Butler's agent Bernie Lee had previously slammed Charania on X with a series of tweets last month for breaking news that the six-time NBA All-Star wanted out of the Heat. Lee suggested that the reports lacked credibility and accused Charania of using ChatGPT for the report and spreading misinformation to cause unnecessary drama around the players.

While Lee slammed Charania for the report, Butler had publicly admitted to being open to being traded, saying that he would "actually like it."

"I want my joy back": Jimmy Butler opens up about trade plans

Coming off a surprising nine-point performance in the Miami Heat's 128-115 loss against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, Jimmy Butler disclosed his plans of being traded. Butler revealed that he no longer had any joy on the court with the Heat and that he wanted to join a team where he could find the joy back.

“I want to see me getting my joy back playing basketball. Wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon,” Butler said. “I’m happy here off the court but I want to be back to somewhat dominant, I want to hoop and I want to help this team win, and right now I’m not doing it.”

In the 21 games he's played in the 2024-25 season, Jimmy Butler is averaging 18.0 points which is his lowest in the past 12 seasons. The five-time All-NBA player is also averaging 5.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 55.3% from the field including 36.7% from beyond the arc.

Butler is currently playing out the second year of his three-year, $146 million contract. Various teams are rumored to be interested in trading for Butler, including the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks.