Flau'jae Johnson drops her 2 cents on Jimmy Butler’s fiasco with Miami Heat: “Could go anywhere and make an impact”

Flau'jae Johnson addressed the Jimmy Butler and Miami Heat situation on the "Best of Both Worlds" podcast episode on Thursday. The LSU guard said that Miami tried to devalue the small forward by portraying him as a bad team player by suspending him for seven games.

"He wants out of Miami, and the Heat suspended him. Is there a team I want to see Jimmy play?" she said (Timestamp: 4:28). "Jimmy could go anywhere and make an impact. Aren't they trying, when they suspend him, to try to make it seem like he just got a bad rep and try to make his money go down when he go to another team?

"I feel like that's the business of it, that's what they would do, especially if he being very vocal about it. like they going to have the upper hand and try to write that whole narrative."

Nevertheless, Flau'jae Johnson believes Jimmy Butler's business acumen will ultimately force him into an ideal situation, where the star player could capitalize adequately on his skillset.

Butler expressed his desire to be traded by the Miami Heat and reiterated his stance during a face-to-face sitdown with team president Pat Riley earlier this month. Butler added that he will use his 2025-26 $52 million player option as leverage in the trade market.

Jimmy Butler faced a team-issued suspension on Jan. 3, keeping him away from the Heat's six-game road trip.

"I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball, wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon," Butler said before being suspended. "I want to get my joy back. I’m happy here, off the court, but I want to be back to somewhere dominant."

LSU Tigers and Flau'jae Johnson will face their toughest game next week

The No. 5 LSU Tigers (19-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) are preparing for Sunday's road game at Florida (11-7, 2-2). The team will then travel to South Carolina to face the defending champion Gamecocks (17-1, 5-0), who are ranked No. 2, on Jan. 23. It will be the highest-ranked team Flau'jae Johnson and her teammates will have faced this season.

South Carolina is 6-1 against ranked teams, including 4-1 against teams in the top 10. LSU is 2-0 against ranked teams, beating then-No. 20 NC State 82-65 in late November and winning at then-No. 16 Tennessee 89-87 last week.

Moreover, tensions from last season's SEC championship game could also factor in. Former Gamecock Kamilla Cardoso shoved Johnson to the floor during a heated sequence.