Jimmy Butler will not be available for the Miami Heat ‘s do-or-die Play-In battle against the Chicago Bulls on Friday night. This news does not come as a complete shock after seeing Butler battle through a knee injury for pretty much the entire game in Wednesday’s brutal 105-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Heat have now announced the extent of Butler’s injury, and it sounds like he could be done for the season.
Miami Heat News: Jimmy Butler Diagnosed with MCL Sprain
It was initially reported that Butler could be out for “multiple weeks” with a suspected MCL injury in his knee:
On Thursday evening, the Heat confirmed that Butler had indeed been diagnosed with an MCL sprain. This report comes via Shams Charania of The Athletic:
That’s just devastating. Not only is Butler going to be out for Friday’s win-or-go-home bout against DeMar DeRozan and the Bulls, but it is now all but guaranteed that he’s going to be sidelined for at least the next few weeks.
This only means that even if Miami wins on Friday to secure the No. 8 seed in the East, Butler likely won’t be available for their first-round series against the Boston Celtics.
Butler is a warrior and he has a knack for playing through injuries, which was on display yet again on Thursday when he remained on the court against Philly despite suffering the injury early in the contest.
However, this is an MCL sprain we’re talking about here, and playing through an injury of this nature has inherent risks. At this point, it would not be a complete shock if Butler had already played his final game of the season for the Heat.
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