Heat's Jimmy Butler Says 'I Do Not Care What People Say About Me'

All-Star forward Jimmy Butler said Tuesday he hasn't paid attention to any outside noise since the Miami Heat fell short against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020 NBA Finals.

"Believe me when I tell you that I do not care what people say about me," Butler told Marc Stein of the New York Times. "I truly don't care."

The 31-year-old Houston native has long been one of the NBA's better players. Along with five All-Star selections, he's also been voted to the All-NBA Third Team three times, a distinction that's accurately placed him as a great player but not quite in the top-10 upper echelon.

That changed during the 2020 playoffs. He helped carry the Heat, who entered the postseason as the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, to the Finals by averaging 22.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals across 21 playoff appearances.

There were stretches, especially in Miami's Game 5 win over the Lakers when he went bucket for bucket with LeBron James down the stretch, when Butler looked like one of the league's best players.

Before the Finals, the Marquette product explained his arrival to the Heat for the 2019-20 season allowed him to find a comfort zone that wasn't there during stops with the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers, per Stein.

"I'm so comfortable with being myself—more than I've ever been," Butler said. "Not saying I've ever not wanted to be myself, but now I know 'myself' is the right way."

His emergence in that aforementioned upper echelon combined with a talented, youthful supporting cast in Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson gives the Heat a lot of potential moving forward.

The East will be deeper next season, highlighted by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving linking up with the Brooklyn Nets after KD missed this past season with an Achilles injury, but Butler and the Heat have shown they belong in any championship discussion.