The Miami Heat’s poor relationship with star Jimmy Butler is encouraging many former NBA players to speak out about team president Pat Riley and Co.

Among them is NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, who recently spoke out against Miami’s front office and the Heat culture as a whole. He shared his thoughts on a recent episode of Ticket & the truth Podcast.

“When I’m a superstar, I’m going to be like, ‘Man, I’m not going down there because once you get that, they say get out of here.’ Don’t treat me like that if I sacrifice all of this,” Pierce said. “I don’t come into that culture. The new generation doesn’t care about it. It was cool for the old generation.”

It’s fair to say that Riley has had his fair share of issues with star players over the years. Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal have highlighted this, and Butler makes it four superstars who were, in a sense, forced out of Miami.

However, in response to Pierce’s harsh remark, another NBA legend, Kevin Garnett, defended the Heat.

“So name some better cultures than the Heat culture. Because that is a culture of success. “Just because you ask for a number and it doesn’t go the way you want it to… doesn’t mean Miami doesn’t have a culture,” Garnett said.

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Anthony Pasciolla is a writer for Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on X @AnthonyPasci.