After a seven-game suspension due to “conduct detrimental” to the Miami Heat, and with the franchise not yet finding a trade to their liking, Jimmy Butler is expected to return to the court Friday for the team’s home game against the Denver Nuggets.
“I’m back,” Butler released in a statement on X through his agent Bernie Lee before Friday’s game. Butler is not listed on the NBA’s latest injury report.
Before the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t mention Butler by name but alluded to the Heat returning to the starting lineup they used in a Jan. 2 loss against the Indiana Pacers — a game Butler started.
This is the latest layer in what has been a public feud between the six-time All-Star and his franchise of more than five seasons, one that dates back to last May and stems from the two parties’ inability to commit to a long-term partnership.
The seven-game suspension, which began on Jan. 3, came after Butler expressed a desire to be traded. In Butler’s two games before his suspension, which followed a 13-day layoff due to injury and illness, he totaled 18 points on 5.5 field goal attempts per game, shot 54.5 percent from the field and averaged just under 26 minutes. He told reporters he lost his joy for basketball and did not believe he would rediscover it in Miami.
In its announcement of Butler’s suspension, Miami’s front office declared a willingness to listen to trade offers for the six-time All-Star, going back on team president Pat Riley’s stated intentions a week earlier that “we are not trading Jimmy Butler.” This season’s NBA trade deadline is Feb. 6.
The Warriors, one of Butler’s initially preferred destinations, aren’t likely to pursue the forward, according to recent Athletic reporting. The Phoenix Suns are reportedly Butler’s current preferred destination, but Bradley Beal’s no-trade clause, remaining two seasons and more than $110 million on his contract have been obstacles to accommodating that preference. As The Athletic’s Sam Amick reiterated earlier this week, the Heat will not be forced into a trade before they’re ready, which is in line with the franchise’s history of patiently handling stalemates with stars.
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Among Miami’s seven games in which Butler was suspended, six of them came during a West Coast road trip. The Heat had a 3-4 record with Butler away from the team and sported the league’s seventh-best defense in that time. On the season, the Heat, who enter today with a 20-19 record and sit in the East’s No. 8 seed, have an 11-11 record when Butler plays. According to NBA.com, they have a plus-4.3 net rating in his 678 minutes on the court, compared to a mark of minus-0.1 in his 1,123 minutes away from it.
Butler’s 11 shot attempts in his two games before the suspension marked his fewest over any two-game span while averaging at least 25 minutes since Nov. 2013 with the Chicago Bulls. Despite the low production, Butler dismissed any notion he doesn’t want to compete and believes he can still thrive in a higher-usage role. According to NBA.com, he’s on pace to trail teammates Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo in usage for a third consecutive season.
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“It can be my role here, but that’s not what I’m used to,” Butler said on Jan. 2. “I haven’t been that since, I don’t know, my first, second, third year in the league, where I just went out and played defense. But I competed — I guarded and tried to not let my man score. That’s what I’m doing now.
“It’s not a tough adjustment to me. I’m going out to compete to win either way. Whether I’m scoring nine points or 29 points, I will compete. That’s one thing that I will say. So, you won’t say that I’m not out there playing hard. It may look like that because my usage is down and I don’t shoot the ball a lot, but we won’t sit here and say I don’t play hard.”
During his suspension, Butler, who did work out with Heat trainers while the team was away on the six-game road trip, also spent ample time at his Bigface coffee and lifestyle shop, which included a perceived dig at Riley about how leadership can properly communicate with employees, even when offering criticism.
Jimmy to his barista:
“See, I gave you a compliment. That’s what bosses do, they build you up they don’t break you down.” *petty smirk to the camera* 😅 pic.twitter.com/pyQ0N0gNf3
— HEAT LIFER 305 (@lifer_305) January 10, 2025
In a recent interview with Miami media personality Dan Le Batard that was recorded before Butler’s suspension and published last week, the 79-year-old Riley admitted he sometimes feels a disconnect with the NBA’s new generation of players. The nine-time NBA champion has enjoyed his success across stints as a player, coach and executive since joining the association as a first-round selection by the San Diego Rockets with the No. 7 pick in 1967. But he said there is a challenge with maintaining positive relationships with players who have different experiences compared to the league he came up in, equating the dynamic between team and player to that of a parent and child.
“The players who want to express themselves in a way that is absolutely anti what my beliefs are in representing an organization — whether it’s to grow a bigger brand, make more money, to go out there and separate themselves a little bit from the pack — there’s nothing you can do about that,” Riley said.
“The league wants it. Content is king, and I’ve found that trying to keep the media out, the commissioner won’t allow that. Access is what it’s all about. So, players’ personalities today, the younger generation is just different than it was when I grew up. I think most of us, my age, grew up at a time when our parents were harder, if we had them — if we had what they call the nuclear family. It was hard, but it was different.”
“I would’ve handled it differently. There’s no doubt.”
Pat Riley opens up about what he has learned and how things are different in a player-empowerment NBA era where “content is king.”
WATCH: https://t.co/wgJgmzilwY pic.twitter.com/heMMwmoBgN
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) January 9, 2025
This summer, Butler maintains a $52.4 million player option he can exercise, whether he remains in South Florida or is dealt elsewhere by the aforementioned deadline. Until then, it appears he will be in a Heat uniform until the next chapter of his basketball career becomes clearer.
Required Reading:
(Top photo: Jim Rassol / Imagn)
