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After a seven-game suspension due to “conduct detrimental” to the Miami Heat, and with the franchise not yet finding a trade to its liking, Jimmy Butler returned to the lineup 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.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t mention Butler by name during his pregame media availability 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. The Heat officially announced Butler as a starter about 30 minutes before tip-off, and Butler was introduced to mostly cheers from the Kaseya Center crowd, which applauded his first bucket.
Butler scored 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field in 33 minutes in the Heat’s 133-113 loss, adding three rebounds and two assists. He notched 10 points in the third quarter but did not score after the 1:58 mark of the frame.
Calm and laid back would be the best way to describe Butler’s early demeanor in his first game back with the Heat, but the team-wide tension did eventually reveal itself. He mostly warmed up alone — both before the game and upon the conclusion of halftime — and didn’t seem too enthused about engaging teammates in pre-game introductions, but some blocks of ice can take longer to thaw than others.
“I guess it’s basketball at this point,” Butler said after his first game back in Miami’s lineup. “I know what I’m expected to do while I’m here — trying to do that to the best of my abilities. We are where we are.”
By the end of the night, Butler wore a No. 45 Michael Jordan jersey when addressing media but often responded with “No comment,” when asked about his ongoing tension with the Heat. And the tension was evident. Spoelstra had no interest in speaking about anything related to the situation, preferring to credit Miami’s opponent for the rough night before anything else.
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 his suspension, Miami’s front office declared a willingness to listen to trade offers for Butler, 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 reporting from The Athletic. 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.
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 now have a 20-20 record and sit in the East’s No. 9 seed, have an 11-12 record when Butler plays. Prior to tonight, according to NBA.com, they had a plus-4.3 net rating in his 678 minutes on the court, compared to a mark of minus-0.9 in his 1,219 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 November 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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.”
Once the game ended Friday night, Miami found itself back at.500 after another blowout loss at home with little interest in discussing the elephant in the room, which is par for the course when navigating a months-long situation with no imminent end in sight.
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. For now, though, with Butler back in the Heat fold, both parties may have to settle for being an odd pairing until the next chapter in Butler’s basketball career seems clearer.
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