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Let’s check out the Southeast Division Dub Nation, a spicy part of the NBA this year. Last season, the Warriors split two with Miami, and only one of them still stings. The Heat took the first one 110-96 in November, against a Golden State roster so short-handed it looked like a Santa Cruz scrimmage. Then on MLK Day at Chase Center, the Warriors won 135-112, and in the third quarter Jimmy Butler came down awkwardly on his right knee and didn’t get up. Torn ACL, against the one team on the schedule he’d most want to beat. Basketball has a mean sense of humor sometimes.
So here we are. Steph and Draymond are still chugging along, still making a way out of no way, with Jimmy in tow and working his way back. He told everybody at media day his testing numbers are off the charts and he’s ahead of schedule, which is exactly what Jimmy would say, and I believe him anyway.
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And the man is happy here. You remember how he left Miami. January 2025, after a loss to Indiana, Butler stood at the podium and said the quiet part out loud: “I want to get my joy back.” Somebody asked if he could find it in Miami. He gave them two words, “probably not”, and a few weeks later he was a Warrior. Bad knee and all, he found joy.
Which makes this Heat summer kind of beautiful, because Miami turned around and became the place other stars go to find theirs. Giannis Antetokounmpo spent a year being dragged through every trade rumor on earth in Milwaukee and finally got out. Klay Thompson took a buyout from Dallas and signed with Miami in late August. Two guys who had soured on where they were, landing in the same building as Bam Adebayo, the one guy who never left. Riley went shopping in the clearance aisle of NBA discontent and came home with a two-time MVP and a four-time champion.
It wasn’t cheap. Miami sent Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis and three first-round picks to Milwaukee to make the Giannis deal happen. Then they spent the rest of the summer filling in around him with Klay, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bobby Portis and extensions for Andrew Wiggins and Pelle Larsson.
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Now here’s the…
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Publish date : 2026-10-01 07:07:00
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