Heat's Jimmy Butler Says RJ Barrett Is 'Going to Be the Face of the Knicks'

Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler praised New York Knicks forward RJ Barrett following his 46-point outburst Friday night.

Butler scored 23 points to help lead the Heat to a 115-110 win, but it was Barrett who stole the show at Madison Square Garden by knocking down 13 of his 22 shots to establish a career-high scoring mark.

"We all know he's capable of that," Butler told reporters. "I don't think anybody is surprised or should be surprised. He's definitely going to be playing in this league for a long time, and he's going to be the face of the Knicks."

Barrett has made steady progress across three NBA seasons, and he's started to look like the potential franchise cornerstone the Knicks we're hoping for when they selected him with the third overall pick in the 2019 draft.

The 21-year-old Duke product has averaged 18.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 threes across 49 appearances this season. His scoring average sits at 29.2 through five February games.

"When you have a night like that, of course you want to have a win, which is the most important thing," Barrett said after the Knicks' loss, which dropped the team's record to 25-35.

New York posted a 41-31 record last season to reach the playoffs, but it's so far fallen short of expectations during the current campaign.

Barrett is a bright spot, however, and opponents are taking notice of his improvement.

"You could see it in the body language, you could see it in his face," Heat center Bam Adebayo said. "He wants to be that guy. You could see he wants to take his team to another level. You could see it in his body language. He's playing free. He's not even thinking about what shots to take, when to take them. He's just going out there and playing basketball."

Unfortunately for the Knicks, his recent hot streak hasn't resulted in an uptick in the team's results, as they've lost all five games he's played this month.

New York sits 12th in the Eastern Conference, 3.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final berth in the play-in tournament, with 22 matchups left in the regular season.

Barrett is going to need some more help if the Knicks are going to make up that deficit to at least give themselves a shot at making the playoff field.