Report reveals Jimmy Butler's status for Friday's game vs. Nuggets

The Heat‘s game on Wednesday vs. the Lakers will be the seventh of Jimmy Butler‘s suspension, making him eligible to rejoin the team before Friday’s contest against Denver. With Miami still not close to finding a suitable trade involving Butler, it’s unclear what the next step in the standoff between the team and its star forward will look like.

Reporting earlier this week indicated that the Heat expect Butler to resume playing in games at the end of his suspension. Sam Amick of The Athletic hears from a source close to Butler that the 35-year-old intends to report for duty. But given the strained relationship between the two sides, it would almost be surprising if Butler simply returns to action on Friday without incident.

The last time Butler returned from a multi-game absence amid trade rumors was on Jan. 1, when he played vs. New Orleans after missing five games due to a minor ankle injury and an illness. He didn’t look fully engaged in that outing, frequently standing in the corner on offense without the ball in his hands.

NBA insider Chris Haynes stated during an appearance on the Le Batard Show on Tuesday that the Heat openly questioned Butler’s effort after that game, which didn’t sit well with the six-time All-Star, who told reporters unprompted in his media session the following night that he always plays hard.

Shams Charania reported on Tuesday that the implication from team officials that Butler wasn’t playing his hardest was one reason why he requested a trade on Jan. 2. According to Haynes, Butler’s camp also privately pushed back against the team’s suggestion that his effort was lacking, using speed and acceleration data from Second Spectrum.

As has been widely reported, Butler’s initial unhappiness with the Heat stemmed from their unwillingness to offer him the maximum-salary contract extension he was seeking over the offseason. However, another source of frustration for Butler has been his role in the team’s new-look offense, according to both Haynes and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

On the Le Batard Show, Haynes noted that Miami tweaked its offensive system prior to this season to reduce mid-range looks and increase three-point attempts, which doesn’t cater to Butler’s skill set. As Haynes observes, Butler’s usage rate this season has dipped to 21.2%, his lowest mark since his third season in Chicago in 2013-14.

According to Chiang, Butler’s camp inquired about the adjustments to Erik Spoelstra‘s system and was told that Miami made changes in part because the forward’s inconsistent regular-season availability made it difficult to build the offense around him. Conversely, Chiang writes, some people with the Heat may contend that Butler has made his role look smaller than it actually is by “making it a point in some games to run to the corner and play without the ball in his hands.”

Here’s more on Butler:

• According to Chiang, Butler’s meeting with Heat owner Micky Arison is tentatively expected to take place on Thursday, so there could be more clarity on next steps after that session.
• Haynes provided several more interesting tidbits during his appearance on the Le Batard Show, revealing that Butler and Riley didn’t communicate for several months between the offseason and Jan. 1; Haynes also shared a story about how Butler was irked by an accounting error last spring that resulted in him not being paid until the issue was resolved 10 days later (h/t HoopsHype).
• According to Haynes, Butler’s camp wasn’t happy about leaks suggesting that he has repeatedly taken private flights instead of taking the team charter. Haynes hears that those flights only happened a handful of times, primarily during the 2023 NBA Finals when Butler’s father was ill.
• While it’s unclear if the Bucks have legitimate trade interest in Butler, two league sources insist to Amick of The Athletic that Milwaukee hasn’t been told by the forward’s camp that he doesn’t want to play there. Multiple reports previously indicated that the Bucks had been advised not to pursue Butler, but it sounds like Memphis is the only team known to have received that message.
• Speaking to Marc J. Spears of Andscape about the standoff between Butler and the Heat, team captain Bam Adebayo said his approach is to focus on winning games and letting the front office work out that issue. “You understand that it’s business at the end of the day, and I’ll leave it at that,” Adebayo said. “J.B. is one of my guys. So, for me, we give him space and we let him and management handle it, get involved in that. We worry about getting these wins because at the end of the day, whatever happens with him and the management, somebody still got to play these games.” According to Spears, teammate Tyler Herro praised Adebayo for showing “a lot of leadership” during a challenging time for the club.