Miami Heat suspend Jimmy Butler for seven games and will seek to trade him
The Miami Heat suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games on Friday and said they will try to trade him.
The Heat said the suspension was for “conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and especially in recent weeks.”
“Through his actions and statements, he has demonstrated that he no longer wants to be a part of this team,” the Heat said in a statement, a day after Butler said at a post-game news conference that he does not believe he can be happy if he in Miami is moving forward.
Butler will lose approximately $336,543 per game during the suspension, or approximately $2,355,798 total. He has the right to appeal, which could soften the financial blow.
Butler will not be with the team for Saturday’s home game against Utah and then for the totality of a six-game road trip to Sacramento, Golden State, Utah, Portland, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers.
In theory, the earliest Butler could play for the Heat again is Jan. 17 at home against Denver. But he probably played for Miami for the last time.
“Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated they would like to be traded, therefore we will listen to offers,” the Heat said.
It’s a reversal from a week ago, when Heat president Pat Riley said the team would not trade Butler.
But now the relationship between Butler and the Heat — a topic of conversation for weeks — appears to be well past the breaking point.
The Heat lost 128-115 to Indiana on Thursday night, with Butler scoring exactly nine points and sitting out the fourth quarter for the second consecutive game. That also happened on Wednesday in a win over New Orleans.
“What do I want to see happen? I want to get my joy back from playing basketball, wherever that may be. We’ll find out here pretty quickly,” Butler said. “I want to get my joy back. I’m happy here, off the field, but I want to get back to a dominant place. I want to hoop and I want to help this team win. Right now I’m not doing that.”
He was then asked if he could find that joy in Miami. “Probably not,” Butler said, ending his post-game press conference.
The 35-year-old Butler was eligible for a two-year, $113 million extension last summer. The Heat did not offer one, and Riley expressed reservations about giving such a deal to a player who misses a significant number of games.
Butler has missed about one in four Heat games since joining the team. He said at media day this fall that he believed his play this season would “take care of itself” in the overtime decision.
‘I think I have to go hooping. … I have to prove that I’m an important part of winning, and rightly so. I’ve done it before. This is no different,” Butler said at the time.
But now the parties are heading for a serious rift. It won’t be the first for the Heat — LeBron James left in 2014, Dwyane Wade left before eventually returning, Shaquille O’Neal was traded — and it won’t be the first for Butler either.
There are parallels with what’s happening in Miami now and the end of Butler’s time in Minnesota.
In 2018, Butler was months away from potentially becoming a free agent (as is the case now) and was unhappy with the Timberwolves (as is the case now, only with the Heat). He said in an interview with ESPN – after an infamous practice where he tore teammates apart with his play and his words – that he wanted to hear the Wolves say, “We need you. We want you here. We can’t do this without you.”
His words on Tuesday suggested the same thing: that he isn’t feeling the level of love he wanted from the heat. “It’s good that it’s being talked about. However, it is even better to be wanted. Remember that,” Butler said after a practice session.
Ultimately, Butler got his way. Minnesota traded him to Philadelphia — and less than a year later, he got his way again, when he agreed to join the Heat in a sign-and-trade. He said he wanted to be in Miami to finish his career.
Along the way, both sides were rewarded. Butler has earned about $200 million in salary in his five and a half Heat seasons (with another $25 million coming this season), and the Heat have enjoyed two runs to the NBA Finals.
It worked. Until it didn’t.