It Turns Out The Story Of Jimmy Butler Rejecting An All Star Spot In Support Of Bam Adebayo Was All A Lie

Jesse D. Garrabrant. Getty Images.

This past weekend there was this story floating around NBA and Heat Twitter that Jimmy Butler had in fact turned down a spot in the All Star Game because his beloved teammate Bam Adebayo got snubbed

Heat fans collectively cummed themselves talking about "Heat Culture" and how Jimmy Butler was actually a great teammate and how things are different in Miami. What's weird is I thought the internet had already agreed that Jimmy Butler was always a good teammate, he just didn't allow his teammates to be Charmin soft and called them out on their bullshit. I feel like their run last year answered any of those questions. Here's how that "report" explained it. It was given by a fella named Ethan Skolnick of 5 Reasons Sports, who covers the Heat and went on a podcast and said this

“For those who were questioning why Jimmy (Butler) wasn’t named to the All-Star team when (Kevin) Durant went out, and it was (Domantas) Sabonis, I can tell you that the NBA wanted to name him to the All-Star team,” Skolnick reported. “He wasn’t going unless Bam was going.”

Right away, the internet ran with it. Even if you take a second and think about how little sense that makes, it became true for a couple of days. 

Only problem with this story is that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. It got to the point where the NBA had to weigh in

Last I checked Jimmy Butler is not hurt, he just had 33/10/8 in their win over the Jazz on Friday while playing 35 minutes. I'm pretty sure Adam Silver would not find the reason "my best friend didn't get selected" as an acceptable reason for Butler to turn down his selection that in reality never even really happened. What a weird thing to make up. The Heat have turned around their season, they are right in the thick of things after a brutal start. Like the Celts, the Heat have had to deal with brutal injuries/Covid issues all year

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There are plenty of things to be excited about right now when it comes to the Heat. Making up fake All Star selection stories does not have to be one of them. I just don't get the angle of making that up. Especially when the other shoe drops and it comes out that Butler was never even offered the spot. That's tough. 

It doesn't mean the Heat Culture isn't real or that Butler is suddenly a bad teammate. Shit, the Heat have won 6 in a row and are playing their best basketball of the season. It's just a weird thing to make up. I guess it got the viral traction and in the internet game that's all that matters, but now they look a little silly. 

Like, it's OK that Butler didn't make it. He's been hurt for a shit ton of their games. There's no need to try and make up a whole scenario that he was actually selected but turned it down to show support for Bam who was snubbed. That's just something that doesn't happen simply because the CBA doesn't allow it.