Shane Battier leaves full-time job with Heat. Here’s what he’s going to do now

Shane Battier has left his full-time job heading up the Heat’s basketball development and analytics department but will do consulting work for the organization, according to a league source.

The decision was entirely Battier’s. He was not unhappy with the Heat, the source said.

Battier, 42, initially joined the Heat’s front office on Feb. 16, 2017, as the director of basketball development and analytics and just completed his fourth season as the organization’s vice president of basketball development and analytics.

His responsibilities included the development of analytics to evaluate talent, including college prospects, free agents and current Heat players.

Battier interviewed for a high-level position in the Detroit Pistons’ restructured front office during the 2018 offseason, but he withdrew his name from consideration and remained with the Heat.

“We believe Shane is an incredible example of our Heat program, not only for the present, but also for the future,” team president Pat Riley said in a statement released by the Heat when Battier was hired in 2017. “He embodies everything that we are looking for in our players and staff. We feel he will help us tremendously with his experience and knowledge of the game. Shane is an out-of-the-box thinker and will bring a fresh expertise that can help us evolve as a franchise.”

Battier, 42, was a key rotation piece in the Heat’s last two championship teams, shooting 38.2 percent on three-pointers in his three seasons with the Heat. He averaged 8.6 points in his 13-year NBA career.

Battier retired after playing his final season with the Heat in 2014 and worked one year as an ESPN analyst while maintaining a strong relationship with the franchise with his annual Battioke karaoke event to raise money for the Take Charge foundation, which helps send kids to college with scholarships.

He has homes in South Florida and Michigan but lived primarily in South Florida while working for the Heat.

Battier had been viewed as someone who could take on much greater personnel responsibility when Heat president Pat Riley eventually retires. That now is considered less likely, though not entirely out of the question. And any chance of Dwyane Wade assuming that type of authority in a post-Riley regime was eliminated when he recently joined the Utah Jazz as part-owner.

Riley, 76, has indicated he has no plans to step away anytime soon.

It’s possible that some combination of coach Erik Spoelstra, general manager Andy Elisburg, assistant GM Adam Simon and CEO Nick Arison could fill Riley’s personnel responsibilities when he retires, but that’s speculative at this point.

Alonzo Mourning, the Heat’s vice president of player programs, also could be considered for a bigger role if he’s interested.