Jimmy Butler takes his game to a level that few can reach when the playoffs roll around. Butler is a top-25 player for most of the regular season, but is nowhere near the top-5 player he is in the playoffs. This season, there’s a chance that playoff Jimmy is a season-long thing.

Butler is entering the final year of his contract with the Heat with a player option for the 2025-206 season. He wants a contract extension from the Heat that would allow him to spend the rest of his career with Miami, but they haven’t offered the deal.

Butler is 35 years old and is coming off a season in which he was lost in games and missed large chunks due to injury. As Jimmy waits for his last big payday, he will want to prove that he is still the same guy who dominated the playoffs for the last five seasons.

In 2019, Butler’s first year with the Heat, he led them to the Finals as a fifth seed, surpassing LeBron Jamit. In that 6Game series, he averaged 26 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists per game and a 40-point triple-double in a Game 3 win.

Jimmy and the Heat would lose the series as both Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic would suffer injuries in the first game, but Butler dominated. He led an injury-plagued team to six games against LeBron and Anthony Davis. Little did people know that this was just the beginning of Butler’s playoff dominance.

In 2020, the Heat were defeated in the first round after a short offseason, but in 2022 they finished as the number one seed, losing to the Celtics in a seven-game series in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the 2021-2022 playoffs, Butler averaged 27 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists per game.

He scored at least 40 points in four games in these playoffs, including 47.9 and 8 in a must-win Game 6 in Boston. The Heat lost Game 7 but would meet Boston again in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2023.

In the 2022–2023 season, the Heat had a terrible regular season, finishing the season as a No. 8 seed after losing their first play-in game to the Hawks. Butler and the Heat made the playoffs after barely beating the Bulls in the second play-in game. Miami faced the No. 1 seed Bucks in the first round and were expected to be defeated, but they shocked the world and defeated the Bucks in five games.

Not only did the Heat win the series, but Butler also had the best series of his life, averaging 38 points per game with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. While those are outrageous numbers, his performance in Game 4 was even better, as he scored 56 points to help the Heat take a 3-1 lead over the Bucks.

The Heat were ready to make another trip to the Finals, and they did, but they would lose to the Nuggets in five games. Butler suffered an ankle injury in Round 2 against the Knicks, which hampered him for the remainder of the playoffs and ultimately led to Miami’s loss.

Three of the Butlers’ five seasons in Miami resulted in Eastern Conference finals appearances, two of which resulted in finals appearances. Since joining Miami, Butler has been one of the most dominant players in the playoffs.

Playoff Jimmy could be a season long and he wants to show that he is still the same player this season. If the Heat get the playoff jimmy for the regular season and playoffs, they could really make a big splash again.

Since entering the league, Mobley has been an elite defender with the length and ability to move to the perimeter. Although he was great defensively, he didn’t make the attacking leap that many were waiting for. There was a glimpse of what Mobley could do on offense during the playoffs, and if he could reach that level more often, the Cavs would be even better.

The Cavs have been looking for another consistent scorer alongside Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Mobley, who is considered the favorite at the position. In his first three seasons, Mobley posted a season-high average of 16 points per game and a low of 15 points per game.

He’s always been good offensively, but hasn’t taken the next step toward becoming a dominant force. After averaging 21 points and 9 rebounds against the Celtics in the second round last year, Mobely seems like he could finally make the jump.

Donovan Mitchell is one of the best scorers in the league and Garland can put up 20 points on a nightly basis, but bolstering the offense with strong dominance would be crucial for the Cavs. Mobley has shown he has the ability to create space on the floor, but hasn’t always been able to knock down threes.

If he takes the next step on offense, he could become respectable off the field and open up new possibilities for the Cavs’ offense. With new head coach Kenny Atkinson, the Cavs are hoping they can do some things offensively with Jarrett Allen and Mobely, but Mobley’s untapped potential could be the difference for the Cavs.

Mobley is the anchor of the Cavs defense and has helped them finish as the fourth seed in back-to-back seasons, but an offensive leap could make the Cavs a real contender. Mitchell and Garland are a great backcourt, Max Strus is a good shooter, Jarrett Allen is a strong defender with scoring ability and Caris Levert is a nice spark plug off the bench.

All of these pieces help the Cavs win a lot of games, but Mobley has more potential than anyone else. If he puts it all together this year, the Cavs could be a threat in the East with the size in Mobley and Allen and the speed of Garland and Mitchell.

After surprising everyone with Damian Lillard last season, the Bucks were considered title contenders, if not favorites to win the championship, but they were far from that. The Bucks lost in the first round to the sixth-seeded Pacers. Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo missed games due to injuries, a significant disappointment for a team with title aspirations.

There are major concerns about the Bucks this offseason, be it Kris Middleton’s health, the age of the team, the coaching situation, etc. While all concerns are valid, Giannis and Lillard should be in much better shape next season after a full hiatus have spent this season together, and with these two players anything is possible.

Giannis is one of the top four players in the league, and Lillard has been a top 12 player for a long time, but had a bad year by his standards last year. Dame averaged 24 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists per game while shooting 42% from the floor and 35% from three. Those are good numbers, but they’re disappointing compared to his 32, 5 and 7 on 46% shooting from the floor and 37% shooting from three in 2022-2023.

Lillard has always been the guy in Portland to lead to tough shots and endless double teams. With Giannis, the thinking was that everything would open up for Dame, which would make for a great year. That didn’t happen last year as Dame had a long and tiring offseason, but going into this season there is hope that things are going much better.

If he returns to his 2022-2023 form, the Bucks could have an elite offense. Lillard is the greatest shooter of all time, his name isn’t Steph Curry, and Giannis is unstoppable in transition. Giannis will be great once again, but if Lillard returns to his elite form, the Bucks’ ceiling will be much higher than expected early in the season.

The Knicks, 76ers and Celtics have been on everyone’s lips as contenders all season long. These teams should be good, but the Bucks have the best player in the East in Giannis and would have the best duo if Lillard returns to form. If those two are true this year, the East should be very worried about the Bucks.

As the NBA season approaches, I hope you enjoyed my preview of the players who could cause the most chaos. Butler, Mobley and Dame are all guys expected to bounce back.

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