"I don't blame him": Stephen A. Smith supports Jimmy Butler's call for investigation into Bucks' acquisition of Damian Lillard

Damian Lillard just got traded and it was not the Miami Heat that bagged the services of the seven-time NBA All-Star. Instead, the Milwaukee Bucks will be his next destination through the 3-team trade completed along with the Phoenix Suns involving DeAndre Ayton, Jrue Holiday and Jusuf Nurkic.

It is perceived that all three teams won the deal in accordance with their needs. However, the loser of this three-team trade is not even involved, which is the Miami Heat missing out on Lillard.

In the recent live stream of Jimmy Butler, he reacted to the trade and was able to blurt out his frustrations. The Heat guard also said that the Milwaukee Bucks could have been tampering with the trade.

“Yo NBA man, y’all need to look into the Bucks for tampering… Y’all didn’t hear it from me, but I heard it from somebody," said Butler.

Many people are seeing Butler being bitter about the trade as he was looking forward to teaming up with Damian Lillard. This was something that Stephen A. Smith would understand if he were in his position and wanted an investigation.

Watch: Stephen A. Smith reacts to Jimmy Butler's comments at 1:43 mark

"I don't blame him. If he's a bit salty, he should be," said Smith in his YouTube channel. "Jimmy Butler was looking forward to having Damien Lillard. Jimmy Butler in Miami with Damian Lillard, with Bam Adebayo and those boys legitimately have a better chance of coming out of the East and competing for an NBA Championship."

Miami Heat is now seen as an inferior team to the Milwaukee Bucks after the Damian Lillard trade

The Miami Heat are now seen as losers of this huge trade and they also lost more than that, according to Stephen A. Smith.

"Not only do they not get Damian Lillard which is where Damian Lillard wanted to go but also, they also end up being seen as an inferior team to the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics who recently acquired Kristaps Porzingis a couple of months ago," said Smith.

Last season, the Miami Heat made a huge push to the 2023 NBA Finals and made history as one of the lowest-seeded teams to make it that far. Milwaukee Bucks were on top of the NBA Easter Conference playoff positioning but with an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo, they got knocked out early in the first round.