Despite the fact that Heat star Jimmy Butler reportedly made it clear he no longer wants to play for the franchise, he may suit up for Miami on Friday, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Butler is eligible to return against Denver from his team-issued suspension and was not listed on Thursday’s injury report.
The six-time All-Star was expected to meet with Arison and CEO Nick Arison on Thursday afternoon to discuss a path forward.
As has been reported, there has been little progress on a potential trade. The Heat would prefer to get a trade done sooner rather than later but will only accept a deal that will help the team both now and moving forward.
We have more from the Heat:
- Miami went 3-4 during Butler’s suspension, including three consecutive wins against the Warriors, Jazz and Trail Blazers. The most promising aspect of the trip, The Athletic’s James Jackson writes, is the fact that Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Nikola Jovic all showed promise. Ware continues to play a larger role as the season goes on. Teammate Tyler Herro expressed optimism about what he saw from those players during the stretch. “Ups and downs with a young player are normal,” Herro said. “I went through it myself. I think that’s the hardest thing: just finding consistency night in and night out. That’s a challenge for any young player. I think getting the reps every night is ultimately what young guys need, to be able to continue to get better and go through ups and downs, play through mistakes. But they’re all playing very well. You can see how good they can be, and I’m really excited for them.“
- Ware and Jovic have looked particularly good coming off the bench for Miami, often assisting on each other’s makes, Chiang observes in a separate story. On the other hand, Bam Adebayo and Terry Rozier remain off the mark offensively, with Adebayo shooting a career-low from the field and Rozier shooting his lowest since the 2018/19 season.
- Despite being active earlier this month and looking like he was on track to return soon, Josh Richardson went home from the team’s West Coast road trip early for an MRI on his heel. Richardson was ruled out due to that heel issue, according to the team (Twitter link). It’s unknown at this time when Richardson will be able to return or what the results of the MRI were.
I can’t believe MIA is actually going to play him. Maybe some token minutes.
This is a slap in the face to Udonis Haslem. Period end of story.
Lol heat culture!!
The best thing Butler can do is come back and ball out. Show Riley that you still got it and leave at the end of the season.
And Riley will say Thank you for not taking your player option for $52 million.
And Jimmy will say F you, you lost out bro.
And Jimmy will be wrong, cuz he’s old AF.
Butler picks up the option for no other reason than he would be lucky to get 2/60 as a FA
He can ball, at this stage of his career he ain’t needing to prove anything…, now MIA must show that they can build a winning team around Butler and pay the man the max with a public apology from Riley… & all would be fixed, right?
The Heat have like 14 never should happen in any level of basketball type losses this year that have been very weird. Like finding new ways to snatch a loss from the jaws of vctory
Pretending like Ware has any use against a team like Boston is just sad. Pretending like him doing anything in garbage time is even worse. He’s useful against specific matchups, in certain lineups, when certain other people aren’t available
Heat are 11-2 when Burks plays 15 minutes, and only recently does he get out of the shadow realm…certain people need to be around Jaime and Jovic on the floor at all times, and it works way better than putting them out there in lineups with 2 other guys that also can’t defend, or are out of position…
He’s got a contract. He tanks or refuses to play. They can suspend him and he won’t get paid. This is all noise at this time. Heat keep him and sit him. He acts up gets suspended. Then he can opt out.
Or Heat can trade him for nothing now.
They should be talking to Rockets. Jimmy is from Houston. And they can give them young talent and a pick. I don’t see how you take him back now.
Why in the world would the Rockets want to give up their young talent for Jimmy Butler of all people?
Jimmy has a ‘shelf life’ with a team of about 4 years. He’s past that with the Heat. Time for him to go to the next one. If the Heat can get a couple prospects and draft picks, this team will become the Heat’s version of a rebuild.