Coco Gauff hopes that Jimmy Butler's trade to the Warriors won't impact his tennis-watching time

A wild trade deadline in the NBA didn't go unnoticed by Coco Gauff due to the impact it had on her favorite team.

After her former coach, Brad Gilbert, chimed in with a three-letter "Wow" upon learning that the six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler was going to join his hometown Golden State Warriors in a blockbuster five-team trade, Gauff said over the weekend that the high-profile swap was "kind of sad" from her perspective as a Heat fan.

"I don't know what goes on behind the doors, what we don't see," Gauff said Sunday in Dubai as the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships began.

"I would say I'm disappointed. I'm obviously a fan of Jimmy's, so I'm going to root for him regardless of where he goes."

With the Heat having lost four straight games to dip under .500 this season, the Miami Marlins scuffling in Major League Baseball, anf the Miami Dolphins missing the NFL playoffs, Gauff further bemoaned that "It's a struggling time to be a Miami sports fan in general."

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Butler, too, has been a fixture at tennis tournaments in recent years, including at the Miami Open, Roland Garros and US Open (where he once even joined the US Open ball crew and played a point against Alcaraz), and with a month to go until South Florida becomes the epicenter of the tennis world during the Miami Open, Gauff closed by saying she hoped that Butler's relocation wouldn't impact his off-the-hardwood hobby.

"Hopefully he sticks around at some of the tennis tournaments," she said with a grin.