The Miami Heat have gotten off to an excellent start in the 2021-22 NBA season. They have been one of the most impressive teams in the league thus far, jumping out to a 5-1 record and steamrolling mostly everyone in their path.
Miami hasn’t had a game decided by single digits yet this season. The closest contest was their 11 point loss to the Indiana Pacers in overtime. All of their wins have been by at least 13 points, leading to a league-high +17.0 point differential.
It has not been courtesy of an easy schedule, either. The Heat have picked up wins over the Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, and Memphis Grizzlies, all teams over .500. The Milwaukee Bucks were short-handed, but Miami took care of business, throttling them by 42.
Leading the way for Eric Spoelstra’s Heat is Jimmy Butler. Butler is off to a magnificent start, setting the tone for Miami on both ends of the court.
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Butler leads the team with 25.3 points and 2.8 steals per game. He is adding 7.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists as well for an excellent stat line. His 30.35 PER thus far is also very impressive. So much so, Butler is crashing the early-season MVP rankings.
Now, can he remain there for the duration of the season is the question. The answer, quite simply, is yes. The only thing holding Butler back from being in the running for MVP at the end of the season is health.
Butler has missed a ton of action throughout his career. Last season he missed 20 games, extending his streak of missing 15+ games to five seasons. He has missed fewer than 15 games only twice in his career.
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If he can snap that streak, he will be in the running for the MVP at the end of the season. His statistics are relatively on par with his career numbers, so there aren’t any outliers that may regress to the mean as the season wears on.
Jimmy Butler is playing some great basketball and the Heat are following suit. If he plays in more than 70 games, and the Miami Heat remains near the top of the Eastern Conference, there are going to be a lot of MVP ballots with Butler’s name on them.
