It turns out Pat Riley would have had Heat unretire Michael Jordan’s No. 23 for Jimmy Butler (2024)
Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·3 min read
MIAMI – It turns out the Miami Heat were so intent on signing Jimmy Butler away from the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 NBA free agency that Heat president Pat Riley offered to remove No. 23 from the rafters.
Michael Jordan’s No. 23.
Butler made the revelation on his Instagram account Sunday, offering an explanation in a video taken during a promotional appearance at a sporting-apparel store.
In discussing jerseys and the numbers he has worn over his career, Butler said, “21 I think is wrap for me. That was just like my Chicago days. I’ll never wear 21 again. You can’t wear 23 here, because of M.J. Literally, Pat Riley retired it. But, I will say this, whenever I did come here, Pat told me that I could wear 23. But I said no.”
Shortly after Butler’s Instagram post, Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, posted on Twitter, “What’s crazy is this post made me remember I have the jersey. I took it off the manikin that was in the room when we met. I just went rifling thru my office like Doc Brown looking for the drawing of the flux capacitor when I saw this.”
Jordan’s No. 23 is displayed on a south wall at Kaseya Center alongside a No. 13 Miami Dolphins jersey that honors Dan Marino. Those jerseys are featured separately from the numbers that the Heat have retired for Alonzo Mourning (33), Tim Hardaway (10), Shaquille O’Neal (32), Chris Bosh (1) and Dwyane Wade (3).
When Riley honored Jordan, who only played in the NBA for the Bulls and Washington Wizards, he assured the icon that No. 23 permanently would be taken out of Heat service.
“In honor of your greatness and for all you’ve done for the game of basketball – and not only in the NBA, but for all the fans around the world – we want to honor you tonight by hanging your jersey, forever, No. 23, from the rafters,” Riley said during the No. 23 ceremony. “And no player ever again will ever wear No. 23 for the Miami Heat here. You’re the best.”
Riley would further expand on retiring No. 23 by saying, “Having our guys walk onto the court and look up to see how high you have to climb to reach what he has achieved is something that I think is honorable. I just believe he deserves it. The guy has been the greatest player in the history of the game, and I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea for every team in this league to hang his number in the rafters as a reminder of what greatness is all about.”
Of the honor, Jordan said at the time, “It was by far the best gift I ever could have received. To have your jersey retired in someone else’s building, that says a lot.”
Jordan averaged 30.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 38 career games against the Heat.
Prior to Butler’s arrival, LeBron James, upon his Heat arrival in 2010, switched from the No. 23 he had worn with the Cleveland Cavaliers to No. 6.
At the time, James said of the Heat taking Jordan’s No. 23 out of service, “I just think that what Michael Jordan has done for the game has to be recognized in some way soon. There would be no LeBron James, no Kobe Bryant, no Dwyane Wade if there wasn’t Michael Jordan first.”
James then resumed wearing No. 23 upon his return to the Cavaliers, also wearing it at the start of his current tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers.
It turns out Pat Riley would have had Heat unretire Michael Jordan's No. 23 for Jimmy Butler. MIAMI – It turns out the Miami Heat were so intent on signing Jimmy Butler away from the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 NBA free agency that Heat president Pat Riley offered to remove No.23 from the rafters.
The Heat retired Jordan's No. 23 jersey in 2003 to honor his contributions to the game of basketball. Russell's No. 6 was retired across the NBA following his death on July 31, 2022.
"One of you is gonna step up, knock Michael Jordan to the floor, and not help him up," Riley continued. "We can't show him deference just because of who he is, or how good he is. Not anymore. You can achieve whatever you want in life, but no one - especially not Michael Jordan - is gonna give it to you.
He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995, and he also served as the team's head coach from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2005 to 2008.
In addition to the former Heat standouts, Miami has also retired Bill Russell's No. 6 jersey and Michael Jordan's No.23, despite neither having played a single minute with the franchise.
23. The reason is out of respect for the late Bill Russell, LeBron's agent Rich Paul told Dave McMenamin of ESPN. The NBA retired the No. 6 across the league but players already wearing the number were grandfathered in and could continue to wear it.
"I always said that Kareem was the greatest player of all time because of his longevity," Riley recalled. "Kareem was unique from the standpoint that he could play at a high level, play 80 games a year ... get beat up because of double- and triple-teams and guys just taking shots at him.
Pippen said he doesn't believe in the sport having a greatest of all time because it is a team game, then mentioned Jordan's time in Chicago before Pippen joined the team. "I've seen Michael Jordan play before I came to the Bulls. You guys have seen him play. He was a horrible player," Pippen said.
"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something.But I can't accept not trying." 2. "My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength."
And then there's Michael Jordan, who started wearing the number 23 in high school because it was as close as he could get to half of the number 45 worn by his older brother, Larry. LeBron James also has worn 23 as an homage to Jordan.
The reasoning for Jordan donning nine goes back to his teens. His first number was 45 at Laney High in Wilmington, North Carolina, before switching to 23 on the varsity. “I wore the number nine in the Olympics because it was four and five added together,” Jordan wrote in his 1998 book “For the Love of the Game.”
Throughout his illustrious career, LeBron James has made multiple transitions in his jersey number. After wearing No.23 in Cleveland, he switched to No. 6 when he joined the Miami Heat in 2010.
As a youthful role player for the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, Riley earned the first of his nine NBA championship rings. He claimed another as an assistant under Lakers coach Paul Westhead in 1979-80. The New York native collected four more titles for the Lakers as the team's top man in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988.
Riley ultimately won four NBA championships in Los Angeles as a head coach, including back-to-back campaigns in 1987 and 1988. The former All-America from the University of Kentucky went on to coach the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat, winning another NBA championship with the latter in 2006.
Pat Riley received a major ownership stake in the Miami Heat when he bolted from New York in 1995. In Chris Herring's book “Blood in the Garden,” he detailed that Riley received a 10% stake upon signing, and another 10% paid out over time.
The Boston Celtics retired No. 23 in honor of Frank Ramsey, known as the first “sixth man” in franchise and NBA history. Ramsey spent his entire professional career with the Celtics from 1954 to 1964, though he missed the 1955-56 season due to military service.
And the foundation of his Hall of Fame career started right here in Orlando.” O'Neal — who has No. 34 retired by the Los Angeles Lakers and No.32 retired by the Miami Heat — is the third player to have his jersey retired by three franchises, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Pete Maravich.
For all those reasons, and many others, Thursday was a night to celebrate O'Neal at the arena he called home for parts of four seasons. The Heat raised O'Neal's No. 32 to the rafters, a distinction the team has only previously awarded to Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway.
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