1 week ago
15
Jimmy Butler has been suspended for the third time this month by the Miami Heat as he appears to attempt to force his way out of the team.
The Heat said that Butler left Monday’s morning shootaround practice early, as they prepared for their upcoming game against the Orlando Magic. The suspension is indefinite for now, with the team saying it will last at least five games.
Butler was expected to come back from his second suspension on Monday – only to be suspended for a third time. Butler, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, was told during the shootaround that he was not going to be back in the starting lineup for Monday’s game. He left the shootaround not long afterward, said the person, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team did not release details of the episode publicly.
The 35-year-old was suspended for Miami’s most recent two games after missing a team flight to Milwaukee last week.
Butler had missed 14 of Miami’s last 19 games entering Monday, including nine of the last 12 because of the suspensions – the first a seven-game ban for conduct that the team deemed detrimental, followed by the two-game suspension.
Butler’s role going forward was in some question even before the latest suspension was announced. Butler hasn’t come off the bench in a game since January 2017, exactly eight years ago Monday, in a game against Miami, ironically, when he and then-Chicago teammate Dwyane Wade criticized how the Bulls were playing.
Including playoffs, Butler has started each of his last 560 appearances.
“It kind of feels normal now at this point,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said on Monday morning when asked what it’s like to have Butler available again after a suspension. Those words came a few hours before the latest suspension was announced. “Kind of is what it is, but nothing’s guaranteed. We’ve just got to be ready to roll with whatever cards we’re dealt tonight. We’ve just got to be ready to go.”
Butler wants a trade, and Miami are trying to comply. But moving Butler and his $48.8m salary this season is likely to be more complicated than it would have been in past seasons, largely because of the league’s aprons – salary levels installed as part of the new collective bargaining agreement that restrict how bigger-spending teams can make certain moves.
The Butler saga has lasted for almost two months and will come to a head – one way or another – over the next week and a half. The NBA’s trade deadline is 6 February, which meant Monday could have been one of the final times Butler plays a home game in Miami. Including Monday, there are only six games left for Miami before the trade deadline, raising the possibility that Butler will not play for the team again.
Butler, a six-time All-Star, has said repeatedly that he still loves the city of Miami.
“I love this city with everything that I have,” he said this weekend while appearing at a padel tournament that he co-chaired.
The issue, for him, is with the team. Butler became eligible last summer for a two-year, $113m extension that the Heat have not offered him. Heat president Pat Riley said after last season that the team had reservations about such a deal because Butler has missed about one of every four Miami games since he joined the team.
Butler entered the season saying he was not upset about the lack of an extension. It appears that stance changed in recent weeks, and the team announced earlier this month that Butler asked for a trade – something he cannot do publicly by league rules.
Butler is averaging 17 points per game this season. He had one of the best statistical games in Heat history against Detroit in December – 35 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists.
In his six appearances since then, including one in which he departed in the first quarter with an illness, Butler is averaging 9.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists. He has also lost at least $3m in salary since then because of the suspensions, a figure that the National Basketball Players Association plans to appeal.
