Max Strus made his way onto Pardon My Take this week, and the episode delivered exactly what you'd want from a guy who spent the 2023 NBA Finals run practically attached at the hip with Jimmy Butler.
The headline moment: Strus broke down the secret handshake he and Butler have been running since their Heat days, and Barstool's clip doesn't sugarcoat it — it's a dap that ends with both guys flipping each other off.
Strus walks through the teammate ritual he shares with Jimmy Butler.
It sounds like a bit, but there's real history behind it. Strus and Butler were locked in together during Miami's stunning run to the 2023 Finals as an 8-seed, a stretch where Butler was the engine and Strus emerged as a legit floor-spacer next to him. The two came up with the gesture as a one-on-one trash-talk callback, and it eventually became their pregame thing before every game that postseason.
That partnership didn't last physically — Strus signed a 4-year, $63 million deal with the Cavaliers that offseason, while Butler stayed in Miami before later moving on from the franchise. But clearly the bit survived the trade, and hearing Strus tell it himself on PMT is a lot better than reading about it secondhand.
The episode wasn't all Butler stories, either. Strus and the hosts also got into the age-old gripe about jock taxes, with the PMT crew pointing out that yes, professional athletes actually do pay taxes just like everyone else — despite what Twitter replies might suggest.
The hosts riff on the reality that athletes get taxed just like anyone else.
Between the handshake reveal and the tax talk, it's a solid listen for anyone who followed that 2023 Heat run — proof that even after guys get scattered across the league by trades and free agency, the weird little in-jokes stick around.